The Stargate Network is the miracle upon which interstellar civilization
is built. Through its interconnected web of wormholes; peoples and cultures who might not have
mastered anything more complex than wind-power, might nevertheless traverse across thousands
of worlds throughout many galaxies. Entire societies have developed around the Stargates,
viewed just as often as the work of the divine, as they are as mere tools for interstellar travel.
Every manner of opportunity and every manner of danger has stepped through a Stargate at
one point or another across its long history. But few have brought greater consequence than
those robed in whote, who set foot upon countless lands bearing the words; “hallowed are the Ori”.
At their core, the Ori were equal parts; an offshoot of the bygone Alteran peoples, a religion
based on their supposed divinity, and the auspices of statehood such a relationship necessitated.
These three pillars were foundational to their civilization,
though it was purposely difficult to delineate where one ended
and the others began. The melding of these concepts was critical to the sustainment of each.
The Ori themselves, from which the entire society took their name, began as the Alterans. This
species is believed to be the first evolution of humanity, from which all others ultimately
derived. Millions of years before human life was seeded throughout the Milky Way galaxy,
a split occurred among the Alterans over the perceived conflict between faith
and science. The increasingly religiously driven faction became known as the Ori,
and forced the expulsion of those opposed to them, who would later become known as the Ancients.
Eventually the Ori, like the Ancients, learned the methods by which they could “ascend”,
relinquishing their mortal bodies to exist as pure energy within a higher plane of existence.
They saw their transformation as evidence of their own divinity and as justification
for their praise and worship. Among the next evolution of humans still on the material plane,
they passed down their own religion, known as Origin.
The tenets of Origin were based on a mixture of truth, exaggerations and outright lies.
The Ori were revered as the creators of all life, and that they alone could guide humanity down
a path of enlightenment through which the secrets of the universe could be answered.
Most crucially however, the methods of Ascension were described,
not as a natural process, but something that the Ori alone could bestow.
Origin flourished across the Ori’s home galaxy, aided immensely by the otherworldly powers the
Ori could manifest within their most devout followers. First among these were the Priors,
a genetically evolved sub-species of humanity, artificially created by the Ori.
They traveled the Stargate Network as emissaries of Origin, spreading the faith and combating
rival religions. Priors were gifted with many otherworldly abilities to aid in this,
from the manipulation of the physical world to the resurrection of the recently deceased.
Priors also carried with them a deadly virus, the seemingly miraculous cure for which was
often used to convince hesitant worlds to fully embrace the tenets of Origin.
Millions took up a belief in Origin, until the faith had developed its own intricate practices,
ceremonies, and holy relics inherent to any organized religion.
The Book of Origin became its most holy text, compiling an assemblage of parables and passages
into something easily acceptable and engaging. The title of Doci came to
represent the head of the Church, bestowed to a Prior whose belief was considered strongest.
The Doci often served as a direct mouthpiece for the Ori, who could inhabit them and literally
speak through them to the material plane. The Doci came to reside in the City of Celestis,
a fortress-monastery founded on the planet of the same name. The flames of enlightenment were
located here, a massive wall of fire supposedly the physical manifestation of the collective Ori.
Despite promises of uplifting humanity and turning over to them the secrets of the universe,
the Ori deliberately kept their civilization in a primitive state.
The worship of the Ori was merely a method by which they could attain greater power as ascended
beings, and the promise of uplifting their followers was never intended to be fulfilled.
Their ultimate goal however was the destruction of the similarly ascended Ancients.
As Origin spread throughout the Ori’s native galaxy, it came to absorb the primitive means
of governance utilized by the human population. In this way, the Ori had direct authority over
their worshippers, and were not confined to ruling through their religion alone.
Ori communities were administered primarily as chiefdoms, with local rulers granted the title of
Administrator. These individuals possessed a blend of religious and civil rights and responsibilities
in keeping with the will of the Ori. They were subservient only to visiting Priors,
whose ranks a prominent Administrator might one day be invited to join.
Most of the followers of Origin however, would be enlisted into the Ori Army,
the ultimate expression of the underlying militarism of the church.
Wary of giving their followers too much power, the army did not seem to be a permanent institution,
but one periodically raised by the Ori to deal with outside threats. Despite their
largely Medieval appearances however, the Ori Army employed extraordinarily advanced technologies,
even if those using them were ignorant to their nature. Ori interstellar warships in
particular were enormously powerful, superior to nearly every other starship sent against them.
Ori armies were periodically sent on crusades to destroy the organized resistance of unbelievers.
Such was the case in 2005 when the Ori learned of the existence of vast populations of humanity
within the Milky Way galaxy. With the early efforts of their Priors confronted by local
powers, Stargate Command preeminent among them, open war broke out that same year.
Already suffering from the power vacuum left by the fall of the Goa-uld System Lords
and the decline of the Asgard, Ori priors achieved extensive inroads into the Milky
Way. Numerous primitive civilizations adopted the Origin religion while many other more obstinate
peoples were destroyed. Urgently important to the Ori’s plans was the construction of a Supergate
large enough to allow their armada to enter the Milky Way. The spread of Origin gave the
Ori an enormous workforce, and a functional supergate was eventually completed in 2006.
The first Ori battlegroup to arrive in the Milky Way inflicted a decisive defeat upon the defending
forces. A combined armada mobilized by Stargate Command, the Free Jaffa Nation, the Asgard, Tok’ra
and the Lucian Alliance quickly collapsed. Their victory allowed the Ori to convert
worlds nearly unopposed and also succeeded in driving a wedge between the defeated allies.
Though countermeasures to the superior Ori technology would reduce the disparity
between the two sides, it was devices of the Ancients that ultimately ended the war.
Through the deployment of the Sangraal, known to legend as the Holy Grail, Stargate Command
successfully destroyed the Ori, with the lone exception of Adria. This proved to be a hollow
victory, as Adria had subsumed the power of her fallen people, and continued the Crusade against
the Milky Way. Ultimately, the fall of the Ori became complete, when Stargate Command utilized
another Ancient device, the Ark of Truth, to instantly shatter the belief in Origin
and reveal to its followers and priors the lies and false promises there faith was built upon.
With the Flames of Enlightenment now extinguished, the Ori’s designs for the galaxy
can never come to fruition. Countless civilizations across the universe can now,
for the first time, seek out their own destiny and not be bound to the machinations of another.
But all those who lived under the reign of the Ori will never forget the few truths
spread amongst the lies. For as it was written in the Book of Origin
“flames of ignorance burn without pain. Beware the power or it will consume you before you know."”