Sun Cult

Founded in the 700s E, the Sun Cult seeks to eradicate any mention of a precursor species that may have influenced human history. They started as a small cult that viewed the Raliok trees and the planet as a whole as two parts of the same god, and from there they grew more zealous and obsessive with the idea that humanity was once accepted by the planet but lost its way with its blasphemy concerning precursor species. That the Abilities are gifts the planet has given humanity, and to deny the gift by claiming it was from aliens has caused the planet to turn against humanity. This is why many species are now poisonous. There is no scientific basis for any of their belief structures.

Culture

The culture of the Sun Cult is very insular, secretive, and has a very binary worldview of nearly all aspects of life.

Mythology & Lore

Humanity was birthed from the planet Elivera when the Sun, Ug̈o, created Elivera. Raliok and humans were the offspring.

Cosmological Views

The Ug̈o ELI only appeared at about the same time the Sun Cult appeared. Ug̈o ELI is seen as the divine deliverer of humanity from the lies of the past as well as the father of humanity. Ug̈o ELI will purify humanity from all traces of alien tech and restore humanity to right relationship with the Raliok trees, which the Sun Cult believes to be humanity's true home.

Tenets of Faith

Belief in humanity originating on Elivera
Dual-person God (Sun+Elivera as halves of the same god)
One must commit to eradicating all precursor lies.
Nanos do not actually exist. It is a precursor lie.
Abilities have always been part of humanity. It is a precursor lie to assert otherwise.
One must go through a year-long initiation process that isolates the candidate from the outside world. It is through this trial and learning that the candidate is forged into a true follower of the Sun-Planet.
The trial portion often includes a purification process to purify the initiate from any possible alien-tech or influence. This process is often intensely painful and its survival rate is unknown.

Priesthood

The priesthood is a hierarchy. There is the Sun, the head of the Sun Cult and their partner, Eli. Next comes the council of elders. Agents is the next level down, and below them is the Flock. Finally, the lowest tier is Initiates. To be appointed to a higher echelon, requires individuals to complete missions and rituals for the Sun Cult, and to recruit new members. Once a threshold of missions and/or new recruits is reached, the next level of the 'ascension' can be reached. Only the Sun and Eli can appoint people to the Council of Elders, and it takes a lot of work and completed/successful missions to attract their attention.
It is rumored that there may be multiple Suns and Elis, but they all share the same name and wear the same robes and face masks -- Sun wears an elaborate circular red-orange mask with a wide grin. Eli wears a violet leaf-shaped mask with a sad expression. Their robes tend to either be white-red or black-red depending on the season.

Political Influence & Intrigue

The Sun Cult works in the shadows. They do not like to be known nor do they advertise their existence within the Sefir Net. Instead, they create dummy companies that sell odd artifacts, the advertising of the artifacts will hold cyphers that give a clue as to how to contact the cult's agents. This advertising is then placed in high trafficked areas for the most exposure. They try to place agents in positions where they can work with local councils to subtly shift funding away from any research related to precursor artifacts and ruins. They are xenophobic and will attempt to shift public perception away from xenophile traits.

Type

Illicit, Terrorist group

Leader

Karanu Sanil

Deities