Cult of Yugra

A more or less harmless fringe belief system from Gracenhove Province, originally formed around a "space snake" hoax that once passed through the region.

Divine Origins

In the 331st-333rd years of the Terran Imperial Dynasty, a long-ranged interstellar probe in an unincorporated stellar region to the galactic south of Gracenhove detected an an anomoly. While broadly considered an instrumental malfunction either electronic or chemical in origin, the research survey crew who discovered it chose to leak the anomalous data anonymously to a local news site which was offering bounties for stories at the time.
The anomalous data was quickly interpreted by the public as a serpentine shape of planetary size, moving as if swimming through the distant void. Scientists did their best to dispel any rumours, but a cosmic fear briefly gripped the Terran citizens across the province. After a couple of months, however, the panic subsided in almost all of the population and tensions had cooled. The misunderstanding was cleared up and the province's population got on with their lives. A niche industry even developed across the southestern Empire to market Gracenhove's very own short-lived cryptid.
But there were some who chose to believe.
Tying in with a local legend on a semi-terraformed world orbiting a star the serpent supposedly passed, the snake gained the name Yugra (sometimes Yigra) and quickly developed a loose mythos, born from the furious baking of theories piled on conjecture. Those who believed, at least at first, built their theories on rumours of the Dryads and their bioships, living organic beings that slipped between stars on fleshy wings. Perhaps it is a bioship out on some secretive reconnaisance mission? Perhaps it is a creature like the Dryad flesh-ships but of some other, unknown alien creation? Perhaps it is as old as the galaxy, or even the universe?
By the time the matter was settled and passed into legend, a small but loyal fringe organisation of dubiously stable armchair xenobiologists had been forged into a full-blown cult, and their behaviour became more... erratic.

Tenets of Faith

The cult believes the following:

Yugra lives in the deepest void, occasionally passing near spacefaring civilisations to leave traces of its existence for those willing to find it.

Yugra is immortal and eternal (although many sects bitterly spread competing origin myths for the snake-god whenever they can).

By virtue of its size, Yugra is capable of eating planets of various kinds, and the cult must endeavour to select and "prepare" planetary bodies as worthy offerings. The presence of sophont life on the planet remains a point of contention to the public-facing portion of the cult, who either malign the suggestion of human sacrifice as inhumane or admit that it is a regrettable possibility.

Yugra is normally above such things as human worship, but looks kindly upon offered service and offers curious and obscure rewards.

As Yugra is a serpent, all mundane terrestrial snakes are it's children and their treatment is a reflection not just of the perpetrator's soul but also of Yugra's intentions for them. Kindness to snakes shall be rewarded, and cruelty returned upon those responsible.

The serpentine is the very highest form of life so far evolved. As this tenet potentially contradicts the Terran concept of purity against mutation, the cult implements a complex legal and theological defence that makes their suppression simply too much effort.

Worship

The cult of Yugra is extremely secretive on most of their advanced forms of worship, to the point that they inadvertently spawn wild conspiracy theories in their wake. Rumours range from the orgiastic to the sacrificial, with some whispering that cultists undergo a forbidden ritual to shed their human skin.
Lesser forms of worship are typically casual, an event every few days where ritual invocations and offerings of food are performed, and discreet devotional idols such as necklaces, coiled armbands or torcs are reconsecrated to bring luck for the days ahead. Snacks known as Nes are served to the devoted, small meatballs in lightly spiced batter that are swallowed whole.
The lesser type of worship is open to all comers, and participation by nonbelievers is encouraged. However it is understood that drawing full converts from those who attend is rare to the point of being noteworthy events.

Priesthood

The internal structure of the cult is obscured, but some members are known to rise to prominence and amass wealth and favours suspiciously quickly.
Recieved knowledge in Gracenhove claims that dedicated priests accept a small patch of snakeskin on a hidden part of their body, either grown via gene editing or grafted on by a trusted doctor. In truth there has been no concrete evidence to back up this claim and all but the most paranoid believe it to be a myth.
It is wholly unknown what the cult might do should bylaws on genetic purity be loosened and abhumans gain equality as is sometimes assumed the Coalition wishes to force through the war, but human-supremacists in Gracenhove enjoy spreading malicious rumours all thee same.

Political Influence & Intrigue

Hoping to both locate (and track) their god and aid its children, Yugra's followers gravitate towards high-skill roles in survey and navigation roles in space and medical, genetic and veterinary roles planetside or in communities. A small but devoted core of the province's medical professionals are cultists, frequent enough to become a stereotype even in neighbouring provinces. Employers have found suspected or open worshippers of Yugra to be knowledgeable, unusually devoted, skilled and sometimes disturbingly polite.
Medics belonging to the cult have a suspiciously reliable access to Genovials and have been known to offer gene-tailored cures for diseases of many kinds when under-the-table medical care is the last or best option. For minor conditions such cures are given away freely and with the utmost discretion as a sign of goodwill, and in smaller station-bound communities the local doctor is a friend or saviour to nearly everyone.
When it comes to life-saving interventions, however, the cult always has some price attached. No one really knows what the cost is, and those who accept the cult's offer have never once spilled the secret. Such obscure, partially genetic surgery that is performed is not guaranteed to save the patient, and their deaths are mournfully recorded. Those who come back appear to be fully cured if distant and oddly lethargic in their movements, highly respectd by cult members for unknown deeds and with either a primal fear or curious affinity for snakes.
Local intelligence and security forces across Gracenhove Province keep the cult on their watch list and have been known to bar their members from public office where possible. There is almost never a reason to actually do so, but many feel a vague and ominous suspicion when an open cultist of Yugra seeks political power.