Characters

Up to now a bit about the history, technology, and geography of the New Diasporia game universe has been covered, but not much has been said about Player Characters. Since New Diasporia is about the background and not about the game system I'm not going to tell you how to create characters, or what attributes or stats or what ever they should have, except for perhaps a stat you're not likely to find in any other game.
To start with lets put aside all of the possible regular characters that players are likely to meet or be. New Diasporia allows for many of the typical stock science-fiction characters you are likely to see in just about any such game: The grizzled old captain, the young hot shot pilot, the interstellar lawman (or law woman,) the scout (although in New Diasporia they are called Posties if they deliver mail or Rangers if they don't,) the Naval Officer (Legionnaire,) etc. In most ways these characters are similar to those you've probably played in other space RPGs.
So what else is left? To start with there are a large number of possible characters who are members of the Church. These characters are similar to the ones that some medieval period games might have. Remember one of the principles of New Diasporia is that the Church is good. More than that it is holy. That does not mean all of its members are good or holy. It is possible to have in the game a bad bishop, an evil priest or a corrupt monk, but these are personal failings and in the New Diasporia universe, as in the real world not without consequence. But it is also possible for a PC or NPC to be good priest, a devote monk, a saintly bishop.
This leads to the stat that you are not likely to see in another game. God calls everyone to be holy. In New Diasporia the holiness stat is an indication of how well the player character is answering that call. So when the character is created it will be given a level of holiness. During the game the Player Character's actions will effect that stat. Actions which are in accordance with the will of God, as prescribed in Scripture and the Tradition and teaching of the Church will increase holiness. Actions which are against God's will will decrease it. The character can always restore their full original holiness stat by availing themselves of the Sacrament of Confession. To go beyond that they must perform acts which are equivalent to real world actions used to increase holiness.
There are two types of Player Characters for which holiness in high levels are required.
Many fantasy games have the Paladin character role or class. A Paladin was one of the Twelve Peers, who were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court. In RPGs they are typically holy knights, often divine spellcasters, who must be lawful and good. New Diasporia uses the term Divinely Inspired Hero, or Great Hero to describe this type of character. St. Joan of Arc was a Great Hero. Besides receiving her instructions from St Michael the Archangel, she took a vow of chastity, attended Mass and recieved the sacraments regularly and fought not for her own glory but for her people. Along the way she became a Franciscan Tertiary and eventually was recognized as a saint and martyr.
The Knights Templar failed not just because the King of France conspired against them, but because they did not live holy lives. Their leaders were not holy men, though they might have been good men or just men, or even just not that bad men. Great Heroes will be holy, whether they are lone defenders of the down trodden or members of the great martial orders.
The second type of Player Characters to whom holiness is important are the Saints. Now it is true that in the strictest sense of the word one must be dead to be capital S Saint. Originally the word "saint" was used in place of the Greek word hagios which means "holy person." It is used in this way in many translations of Colossians 1:2,

"To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father."

To be declared a Saint first the person must be found to have lived a life of faith and morals with heroic virtue. What is heroic virtue?  Heroic virtue is a phrase that was coined by St. Augustine. It denotes a degree of bravery, fame and distinction. In relation to the teaching of the Church it denotes someone who has lived their life in a way that makes it evident that they are endowed with the four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Restraint and Fortitude as well as the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love.
So Saints are PCs or NPCs who live their lives with heroic virtue. By virtue of the way they live their lives they accumulate holiness.
So a Saint can be of any game profession. While it might be easier for a cleric or a Great Hero to be a Saint it is also possible for a ship's captain or a postie to be a Saint. It all depends on how bad the Player wants his character to be a Saint.
There is, of course, another type of character which can have very high holiness stats and be a Saint. That is to be a martyr. Unfortunately martyrs make really bad PC's, being dead and all. However it is possible for a PC or NPC to become a martyr in the course of the game. It is even possible to have the Church in the game to recognize such a martyr.