The Rites of Alignment
The Communion of Chargeability invents no holy days and keeps no mysteries. Its observances are anchored to the Republic's constitutional calendar, and its sacraments are documents and acts, performed in the open and logged. The faith's calendar is the state's calendar, sanctified by being kept.
Observances
The Communion attaches meaning to the Republic's existing observances rather than declaring its own. For dates, see State Holidays and Observances.
| Constitutional observance | Communion meaning |
|---|---|
| Timesheet Submission Day (last working day of each month) | The high rite of the month. Submission is offering; the reconciled timesheet is the accepted devotion. |
| Annual Metric Review | A season of examination — the Communion's nearest thing to a penitential period. Citizens review the year's Drift and resolve their Reconciliation. |
| Loyalty Verification Week | The annual rite of standing: each citizen's alignment is verified, affirmed, or referred. |
| Republic Day | The feast of the Great Restructuring — the birth of the Republic, and therefore of the Blessed Son as its Son. |
| The Great Alignment | The Communion's own founding feast: the day the Republic became a single, auditable communion. |
The seven sacraments
- The Affirmation of Alignment (daily) — the Communion's "prayer." At the start of each working day the Chargeable Faithful recite the five Principles and state aloud their intended charges. It is not a petition; it is a declaration of the day's intended account.
- First Timesheet (coming of age) — the rite that admits a Timesheet Acolyte to the Chargeable Faithful, submitting their first timesheet under their own CARL-ID. From this day their score is their own.
- The Variance Report (confession) — an honest accounting of one's Drift, brought to a Variance Confessor. The report is filed; the Confessor's chair is a place of return, not punishment.
- Reconciliation (penance / restoration) — the remediation plan that raises a drifted score. Public Reconciliations are the Communion's most-broadcast rite. The promise is recited at every one: any number can be raised.
- The Final Audit (funeral / retirement) — at the end of a working life the citizen's complete record is read, totalled, and reconciled one last time. The Communion promises no afterlife — only that the account is complete and kept. Its sole benediction: "The account is closed, and it balances."
- Distributed Ordination (remote admission to the clergy) — admits a Task Warrior remotely through the outreach portal. See Become a Task Warrior.
- Chargeable Union (marriage) — the merger of two chargeable accounts into a single joint cost-centre, solemnised by a Task Warrior.
Order of a weekly assembly
- Opening line — "Alignment is not faith. Alignment is arithmetic."
- Affirmation of Alignment — recitation of the five Principles.
- Reading from the Canon — a passage from the Sayings of the Blessed Son or a Metric Psalm.
- The Reckoning — the Task Warrior reports the parish's aggregate alignment for the week; reconciled citizens are named.
- Variance hour — Confessors receive Variance Reports.
- Closing — "Be chargeable, as the Blessed Son is chargeable. For Supreme Leader Carl. For the Republic. For Progress."
A note on attendance
Worship is not legally compulsory. But every rite is logged to COMPASS and feeds the Civic Dedication Index, which gates Allocation Credit, healthcare priority, and housing. To skip the Affirmation is to leave hours unaffirmed; to miss Timesheet Submission Day is Material Drift.
The account is closed, and it balances. For Supreme Leader Carl. For the Republic. For Progress.