Mentat
The most perceptive Servant Order of the Orange Catholic Faith welcomes your interest in all aspects of Mentat.
We are known across the HoloNet as "living droids" but, of course, a Mentat is so much more than any droid of the Galaxy could be. We are people, with all the limitations and potentialities of any sentient being. We have developed all thirty-three neurobiological human senses to greatly refined skill levels. We train ourselves diligently to process, sort, filter, analyze, and refine great concatenations of data. We train ourselves to enact or present our conclusions in the structure best suited to serve the minds, bodies, and souls of those in whose service we live.
By ancient custom, our patrons refer to the relationship between employer and loyal assistant with terms that the neophyte may confuse with slavery nomenclature. A High Vor or Low Vor House may proudly list among their assets a Mentat of a prestigious rank, annotated with a total value in Tapani marks. This does not indicate that a person's existence is taxed as property. The entry rather summarizes the total value per annum of the contractual salary -- half paid to the Mentat's discretionary fund, half tithed to the Mentat Order to cover training and upkeep of ongoing dynamic education -- plus contractually obligated quarters, workspace, tools and materials expenditure, support services such as housekeeping and nutrition.
Tapani Vor culture also has a custom of discharging a debt or obligation by "gifting a Mentat". The putative "giver" contracts with a Mentat for a period of at least three years' service, including partial funding of materials and life support needs. The "giver" also arranges a separate prepaid method of travel which shall remain entirely under the Mentat Order's control, for situations where the serving Mentat must depart the contract ahead of schedule. Such gifts of service may be returns for previous aid. They may be acknowledgements or opening maneuvers of political and business alliance. They are sometimes celebrations of an individual House member's embarkation on the next significant life phase: a new business venture, an important position of responsibility, a graduation or a new educational degree begun. To see a Mentat greet a young person with the ritual phrase, "I am a gift to you from" with just barely enough identifying title of the giver, is to witness a moment of holiness in action.
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Tenets of Faith
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