Basilidean Celestialism: The Stewardship of the Universe

St. Basilides (ba-SIL-id-eez) was a humble rope-maker living in Piot Alenky, a coastal city in the old province of Gaz Agaea in those days, roughly 13,000 years ago. The teachings of  Valentinus had recently reached him from across the Triad Sea and the city of Iodia, and he was deeply intrigued by these revelations and motivated to join a local temple to the Celestials that had been built in his neighborhood.
Moved by what he learned, he cried out for more wisdom and was given visions from the Celestials themselves. He then left his vocation and entered the Celestii priesthood, rising quickly through the ranks to become a beloved and eventually sainted Archbishop with a sophisticated theological outlook from the Celestials themselves. At this time, of course, the Old Gods of the Cumaeans, though surely fading fast, were still the official gods of the febrile old empire, and the priestly heirarchy of the time was very simple and small compared to the form it takes today. As such, despite his archbishopric designation Basilides is still portrayed in a simple brown cloak and is associated with Bretranel, Celestial of hard work with the hands. Though his rope-making analogies were never far from mind, Throughout his life as a priest he authored a number of spiritual treatises, correspondences and sermons of remarkable depth, posing thought experiments regarding the nature of the soul and the source of creative spirit that continue to energize the faith and lead to hotly debated topics in city squares even today.
In the Khazigiri Empire, which replaced the old Cumaeans in large part because it was fueled by this new faith and its dynamic Celestial deities, Basilidean thought and practice is simply Celestialism; the more folkloric, less philosophical branch of Celestialism under Valentinus is practiced in the nations further west, beyond the Empire's reach (or interest, for the most part). To an outsider the two strains are virtually identical, with a split based on the source of celestial power. Valentinians hold that the angels themselves are the source of their divine power, but Basilideans, in the Empire, hold that a creator made them, gave them power, and set them on their course to reshape the world for goodness and justice. Libraries have been filles with the debates between the two perspectives, and in the past the two denominations fought literal wars against each other, while also uniting to try to liberate the city of Iodia from the Tozzites, who had adopted a dualistic faith called Kir Vashti after they were freed from Cumaean domination.
Iodia remains Tozzite to this day, but 6,000 years after these crusades, the nations are on good enough political terms that Basilideans and Valentinians are free to make their pilgramages, and their gold is always welcome throughout Toz'Aizhir. The Tozzite faith, a dualist religious system centered on perpetual cosmic war that recognizes none of the angels as anything more than powerful frauds, is still utterly anathema to the Valentinians and Basilideans, and the relationship remains rocky and fragile for both sides. 
As such the Basilideans see themselves as the defenders of the faith, as well as the natural descendants of the great Cumaean heritage, and the Valentinans, mostly to the west of where the combat actually is, are not in a position to argue.
In actual practice, the two forms of Celestialism are so similar that a Tozzite looking in from the outside could not identify what the differences are other than purely cosmetic. They both venerate the same 73 angels, but each has a slight variation on their order of importance. Basilideans elevate Tzadkiel and Mdnothiel (Angels of the family) to the nine and relegate Adelis (loyalty) and Ycebiel (death) to the 64.

The Basilidean Holy Nine:

1. Phanuel (FAN-you-ell), over Kings, the noon hour, the sun; Solariel is his son.
2. Niphonel (NIF-o-nel or NY-fo-nel), over peaceful nature, 3PM to sunset, life cycles, health and fertility.
3. Apuatel (a-poo-OTT-el), over endings, twilight and the sunset Hour, the first stars in the sky at night
4. Bretranel (BRETT-ran-el), over labor, honest hard work, fairness, and the working class.
5. Astionel (ASH-tee-uh-nel), over valuable things, wealth, banks, treasure and commerce.
6. Tarshiviel (tar-SHEE-vee-el), over hidden things, the dark, Midnight-4AM, witches, secrets, mysteries and magic arts
7. Typhoneth (TIF-uh-neth or TY-fuh-neth), over violent nature, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, battles, chaos.
8. Mdnothiel (mid-NOTH-ee-ell), over mothers and daughters, domestic arts, hospitality, stewardship of children
9. Tzadkiel (tzz-AD-kee-el), over fathers and sons, house-building and upkeep, stewardship of the family.

Significantly, people do not simply pick one patron and devote all their worship towards it to the exclusion of the others; quite the contrary, the purpose of religion is to flatter or at least pacify ALL the angels so that they, in their capricious lack of concern for individual people, will not seek to actively harm the worshipper. Most people are elaborately careful to fulfill the rituals and participate in the feasts of all the celestials, and while they may favor the stories or evident personality of one over another, people take care not to court the rage of the less lovely or lovable angels by ignoring them, either.
As such, these nine are best considered the prime movers, the ones through whom most of the intrigues originate and flow, and from which most enlightenment derives - but the other 64 are critically important to the average person, and the myriad saints of the faith and other lesser celestials are also invoked in both the Valentinian and Basilidean rites.
Those beings that have turned up in stories or games before are listed, but do not feel constrained by this list or to these details; the faith has been followed for longer than written history has existed on Earth, and over that time any number of re-interpretations, contradictions and later evolution has taken place. The mechanical purpose of this religion in the game is specifically to be convoluted, obscure, and somewhat impenetrable to the average person, allowing for religious checks to be meaningful for PCs aligned to divine magic like Clerics, Paladins and Druids. Inadvertently giving offense to, or unwillingly earning the favor of, a Celestial being is always a valid option for the hook for a story in the Orbis.
Other Celestials:

• Teniel (TEN-ee-el),over books, scrolls, libraries, learning, civilized pursuits. Often opposes Tarshiviel.
• Solariel (so-LAR-ee-el), the light of the sun (separate from the sun itself; note the moon doesn't have these rays but the sun does. Center of the Sol Invictus/Yule festival on the 22 of Ysebiel's month (Dec 22)
• Aishapriel (eye-SHAPP-ree-el), over insects, creeping and crawling things
• Baraeon (buh-RAY-on), over justice, authority, law and order, obligations, duty
• Arsisiel (ar-SIS-ee-el), over love, sleep, procreation. Daughters are Oriel and Auriel, over romantic and pure love on the one hand and impurity and lust on the other; their names sound the same when spoken and they are usually impossible to tell apart, even in sculpture, painting and sacred texts.
  • Oriel (OR-ee-el), over romantic love, affection, attraction, physical beauty, and lovemaking. Or maybe that's Auriel.
  • Auriel (OR-ee-el), over lust, sex, irrational desire, unrequited love, envy, and addictions. Or maybe that's Oriel.
• Aeaneth (AY-an-eth), over cleanliness, health, healing, recovery, pure thoughts, chivalry.
• Metaneth (MET-uh-neth), over patience, resilience, endurance, self-sacrifice for the greater good.
• Bellesiel (bel-EE-zee-el), companion to Tarshiviel. Over abominations and the necromantic arts.
• Ysebiel (yuh-SEE-bee-el), over winter, death, decay, endings; nightfall to midnight. Often spelled with a -c, Ycebiel, but the pronunciation is the same and it identifies the same angel.
• Adelis (uh-DEL-us), over farming and domestic animals, crops, seedlings, cultivation and the harvest.
• Artemiel (ar-TEM-ee-el), over the moon; frequently connected to both Tarshiviel whose domain is the late night, and Arsisiel, whose domain is love, romance, procreation and sleep.
• Suriel (SOO-ree-el), the angel of outsiders. Not listed in the annals of the 72 Great Celestials ("Celestii Magni"), nevertheless Suriel appears in myth as a consort to Ophidius/Ophidiel after he is cast out of the 72 over doctrinal disagreements. In those stories she is sometimes his companion, and sometimes his adversary, which is ironic to some extent because the heresy of Ophidius is that the universe is inherently dualist in nature, and she herself is impossible to peg as either a friend or foe.
• Elijin (il-EYE-jin), "the freedom provider", a celestial associated with comfort for and release of slaves from their bondage. The dragging War in the West, which began as a slave revolt, has tempered the popularity of this celestial a great deal, though his/her advocates argue that the celestial is profaned by the Kylmen, not in league with them.
• Undiel (UN-dee-el), Angel of the sea.

Basilidean Saints:

Basilidean Celestialism is replete with saints and generous with its awarding of sainthood. Each day of the calendar year has a host of feast days for various saints and angelic patrons, and another day reserved for all of them including any who might have been missed on the other days (First of Typhoneth's month, Nov 1, "Allsaints"). Saints have special intercessory powers, such as the ability to speak directly to the angels with whom they share a common spiritual substance, even when the mortal is sleeping or otherwise occupied. Saints and angels are often invoked in very similar ways in practice, but only Angels are to be true objects of worship. The Basilidean saints of note include:

• St. Basilides (ba-SIL-id-ees), the Archbishop whose practical and easily understood theologies first initiated and then spread this denomination through the east.
• St. Cyrilirus (sir-RILL-ee-us), the archbishop who led the eastern contingent at the Council of Chigrin and was the primary driver of the clean split from Valentinian theology.
• St. Nikolas (NICK-laws), a Basilidean Bishop who saved 5 children from an evil Cumaean landlord; his feast day (5th of Ycebiel's month - 5 Dec) is a popular worldwide festival based around a later myth by which a gang of capcauns steals evil children into the woods so that the good children can have a happy Yule feast on the 22nd.
• St. Panagea (panna-GEE-a), a paladin of Phanuel who was active in Naarod some centuries ago and made a saint after her success in calming Typhoneth and the Winter King. Her feast day is the midmonth of Astionel's Month.
• St. Firth, the patron saint of the Monastic Order of St. Firth, who freed many captives from Orc slave pens during the old war years in the 10,000's. His popularity has waned over the centuries, but his feast is still celebrated with a summer fair on the City Green in late Niphonel's month.

Usage in Common Interactions Basilideanism is so deeply rooted into everyday life that the names of saints and angels turn up everywhere, from the names of the months to the names of lakes, rivers, ships, and certainly the names of people. Cyprian, Traian and Ariztid, all common names, hearken back to St. Cyprian of the Orange Grove, St. Traian the Mighty, and St. Ariztid the Faithful Accountant. The things named may have some characteristic of the saint, or aspirational associations, or may simply be located in a given district favored by an angel or a saint.

• St. Ulven's Orphanage in Khazigur, the saint of abandoned things.
• The St. Kyntia (Frigate), a woman who outran demons in a race, and a ship famous as one of the fastest scouts in the Khazigiri navy. In fact, most frigate-class vessels in the empire traditionally are named for saints, but this one is particularly apt.
• St. Elisee Ngoma Bay, where a woman miraculously stepped across the water to the opposite shore 30 miles away to escape Kaalengi cannibals after a Basilidean priest begged for intercession from the Celestials.
• The Teniel Library, a massive repository of magical and mundane books and scrolls on the campus of the Wizard's College in Khazigur