Ivar Chu McDaniel was a Terran organic chemist and lay-preacher. His writings became the most successful worldviews from the culture of the colonies.
History
McDaniel was born in 2257, during the Great Pandemics and the quarandinization of Earth. McDaniel was assigned to the research base of Neptune where he worked as an organic chemist. In 2294 He began to experience ecstatic visions which he believed were porphetic revelations came from the Divine. Friends on Mars encouraged him to collect and publish his insights. His teaching urged humans to leave and expand from the Sol System and gained several followers.[1]
It can be assumed that many of his followers were Savants with the "Compass" charisma, those who became the Pilgrims with their extraordinary navigation abilities.[2]
By 2309 his followers (the 'McDanielites') controled the Outer Planets Policy Council. With the recent invention of the Morvan Drive which allowed interstellar travel, his views gained momentum. In 2311 the first colony ship was launched carrying McDaniel and 1200 colonists bound for Sirius. The ship disappeared, but Pilgrims teach that the crew reached a higher plane of existence, from which McDaniel continued to spiritually direct his followers.[1]
Those who accended got outside help from a mysterious alien race [3],
Views
McDaniel's teachings can be summarized as follows:[1]
- He had been chosen to receive his visions because he was a spiritually receptive individual located at the fringe of the Sol System.
- The prophesied apocalypse had occurred, but divine judgment was confined to Earth itself, which was Hell.
- Those humans who had migrated to other worlds constituted an "Elect"
- Because of the pervasive corruption of Earth, the divine presence could not fully empower the Elect as long as they remained in the Sol system; it is essentially Limbo where the Elect must prepare themselves.
- The Elect were destined for physical and spiritual salvation and protection; they must undertake the "Final Exodus" and leave Sol system entirely. The outer Universe is Heaven and only among the stars they can reach spiritual and genetic perfection.