Imperial Cult

The official state religion of the Grand Empire of Karadia, and one of the most powerful of the organizations that, together, de facto are the Grand Empire. It is also one of the largest domestic source of headaches for the Emperors of Karadia.
The Imperial Cult received both a potent blow and a massive reinforcement of authority when the Twilight War happened. The blow was theological - the almost perfect world inspired by the High Gods has fallen, proving that something in the Cosmos wasn't perfect... and that the Gods weren't so infallible after all. But there was also an authority - in the age after the Twilight War nobody could doubt the existence of the Gods. The theurgists and the Chosen Ones were clear, irrevocable evidence of their existence.
The Cult had to deal with the fallout of the blow, however. And somewhat it did. To the Cult, the Twilight War was a sign that the Second Empire lost its divine mandate. That something, deep inside, wasn't working as it should. The only way to truly reconnect with the High Gods and to restore their providence over the Grand Empire is to push back against the followers of the dark pantheons, and rebuild the Empire into one that will be worth Them.
At the beggining, they were thought of a nuisance by other power players of the Grand Empire. However this changed quickly. Today, the Cult is everpresent, influential - and on the road to establishment of the Grand Empire of Karadia first theocracy.

Structure

Like a lot of other groups out there, the Cult's entire structure is based on the provincial structure of the Empire. Unlike the other groups, the one of the Cult is significantly more decentralized, loose and flexible. It has shrines and temples in every village, town and city out there. Its activity is intertwined with the lives of the imperial population to a degree far larger than the one of the Imperial Army or the Imperial Magic Guild.
To begin with, majority of the Cult doesn't do politics. The priesthoods, shrines and temples of, for example, Hortulanus, Exarch of Sustenance do not care about the politics. Instead, they provide vital services to the Empire. In case of Hortulanus, it's the spread of new agriculture techniques and blessing the earth to expand the production. They do that in exchange of money or other goods, if only because the Cult requires financing to operate and do politics.
The politics and military power of the Cult within the Grand Empire are focused within the hierarchies of Honour, Caritas, Iudex, Bellaminae and Sol. Priests of Caritas, Iudex and Honour deal in morality, and are the source of questioning the slavery and numerous other institutions of the Empire. Honour, Bellaminae and Sol's priesthood provides the bulk of the Cult's fighting power.
Every shrine and temple of the Honour, Bellaminae and Sol has a surplus number of 'workers' - most of them either templars or war priests. More of them are stand by the basilica of the local high priest. They train the local militias, they participate in the defensive operations, they hunt for the Fallen.

Territories

There are four main types of facilities belonging to the Cult. The Shrines, the Temples, the Basilicas and the Sanctuaries. Each of them plays a wholly different role in the Cult's little empire.
Shrines are the smallest facilities of the Cult. They are, in fact, so small that some of them aren't permanently staffed. Others do not belong to any deity in particular - putting a separate shrine for every deity in a village would force it to be at least twice as large, so instead there is one shrine for all deities (although there is often a permanent priest stationed there).
Temples are the regular facilities of the Cult. Varied in sizes, varied in utilities provided. Anywhere from one to twenty active priests of the god to which the temple is devoted, occasionally a templar or two for security (up to a few dozen when it's a temple to one of the militant gods). Typically at least one in a province per deity for the less developed (praesidial) provinces. In the more developed lands you can expect at least a single temple per god per city. Every temple has a single head priest in charge of the place,
Basilica's are the residences and officers of the high priest in charge of the entire Cult's structure within a single province. They vary in architecture, but remain the same thing functionally - mostly secular headquarters of the Cult's moral, economic and military powerhouse. They are garrisoned by templars, and are also the places from which the Cult operates against the heretics in the surrounding lands.
Sanctuaries are the rarest and most important locations of the Cult. That's where the priests are educated, being taught the basics of their theurgies by the sacred entity dwelling in the inner sanctuary - typically a demigod of the Cult, sometimes a High Ascendant (with help of a handful of Ascendants). They are fanatically guarded (although typically by a honour guard of elderly templars as the more supernatural inhabitants of the Sanctuary are more than needed to provide defense). They are also rather rare, with many provinces simply not having them.

Military

Combat Units

Mortals

Priests - Priests of the non-militant deities are a crucial part of the Cult, even if not directly on the battlefield. Sure, the priest of for example Epulae isn't going to use their theurgies on the battlefield, but very few sane officers are ready to turn down the help of someone who can delay the rotting of food with their powers - the logistics are crucial for any operations.
Others offer moral support for every armed group they accompany, or can whip their local believers into frenzy - the stereotypical pitchfork mob tends to - due to how common self-defense skills are in this world - include surprisingly well equipped and organized warriors, ready to fight in the name of the gods.
War Priests - Priests of the militant deities tend to be rather militant themselves. While all priests are capable of utilizing their theurgies to cause some supernatural effects on the surrounding world, most of them are utilizing them in non-combat situations. Priests of Bellaminae, Honour, Sol, Audacia and Venatrix are exceptions. They are both warriors and priests, capable of using both their prayers and benedictions to boost their allies and weaken their enemies.
The priests of Audacia are definitely the most common, but also do not participate in the Cult's personal wars. Instead they are all adventurers by the calling, receiving their training to provide their boons to other adventurers in the Lost Lands.
Templars - Templars are the armed branch of the Cult. While war priests are plenty militant, they aren't particulary numerous. Templars make up for that. They are holy warriors wearing robes of many-times-sanctified cloth, the divine power infused into them making them incredibly resistant to attacks - especially those of black magic nature. Their weapons are similarly blessed, changing even a single templar into formidable enemy.
Unlike the war priests (who are educated to be war priests) the templars are soldiers of sufficient skills and devotion that decided to abandon their prior life and pursue a purely religious call. They are used to guard holy places, reinforce the local defences against the Fallen and to conduct a more offensive actions, from time to time. During the times of peace they also help the local militia by training it and helping in its crackdowns on the criminals.
They are ferocious and not only convinced but absolutely sure that they can expect an afterlife where they will be rewarded for their devotion. Because of that, templars retreating from the battlefield are almost unheard off - to truly defeat them you need to wipe them to the last.
Chosen Ones - The absolute apex of what a mortal can achieve in terms of both power and holiness. They were personally handpicked by a High God (not just any god) and elevated into their current status with their patron's power. They are the strongest mortal combatants out there (at least those of the war gods, others are merely around the level of the deadliest non-Chosen Ones), through which the exarchs speak.
Naturally, they are also extremely rare in the wild. Then again, a single one is typically enough to repel all but the most powerful of attacks on the Grand Empire.

Supernaturals

Divine Spirits - When in true trouble, priests can call the servants of their gods to the battlefield or to defend their temples and shrines. The power of the summoned being greatly varies between the deity in question and the power of the priest, but it's never small - they are universally dangerous, especially when you are serving the Fallen as they will attack you on sight.
However the act of calling such beings isn't something done lightly. This is done when other options are exhausted, and to do it for a petty reason is a sin - one that will typically result in some rather unfriendly words of stares from the summoned divine beings. It will also successfully sabotage a responsible priests' chances for promotion.
Ascendants and High Ascendants - The former priests and war priests (for the Ascendants) and the former Chosen Ones (for the High Ascendants) who, at some point in their career, has shed their mortal forms and became something much more. They are now a form of a spirit, one exceedingly powerful and completely immortal. They can be slain, but they will simply remanifest somewhere else (although on a sacred ground).
High Ascendants are technically even stronger than the Chosen Ones, although they simply no longer count as mortals. On the other hand, stepping outside the sacred ground (of, primarily, a Sanctuary) tends to be rather displeasing to them, meaning that they'd rather focus on defending such ground and teaching priests about their vocation rather than going out to punch people.
Demigods - There are many High Gods, way more Gods - and uncountable Demigods. Most of them have some rather specific domain (for example most nations and cultures of the Empire have a demigod acting as their divine personification) or have none at all, instead being numerous progeny of the Gods. Some of them has, naturally, Fallen - but the remaining ones serve the Cult.
Even the Demigod serving the god of Agriculture will be an incredibly dangerous combatant, one that normally requires an entire team of very powerful mortals to have a serious chance of fighting against them. On the other hand, they are rare outside of the Lost Lands (and even then they are rare and sometimes not interested in showing up, something of an unseen overlord of a sphere with no interest in interacting with anyone).

Mythology & Lore

Mythology of the Imperial Cult is too numerous to count, especially as it de facto devoured the parables and fables. Today mythology of the Cult is known to be fabricated, although under the influence of the Gods, meaning that such tales carry some moral points and often are reflections of events from other Material or Spiritual Worlds. It's hard to find a temple without a few myths of their own, and their own holy book acting as a compilation of such tales.
There are certain common things, however, myths that are universally acclaimed as being something more. Something that actually describes the inner workings of the Cosmos. The most common example is the Story of Creation.
According to this myth, the world was once stagnant. The Silence ruled everything - and under it, there was no movement, no sound, no thought or emotion, neither death nor life. At some point of that eternall, timeless stagnancy three being emerged from a Place Beyond Silence (sometimes referred to as 'Song Beyond Silence'). Two of them are known to be the High Gods Honour and Tyrannus. Third one was a nameless deity, who sacrificed everything (including its own name) to end the Silence.
Honour and Tyrannus dismantled the third deity at its own insistence and constructed the World Engine, the beating heart of Cosmos, out of its remains. This ended the Silence - as the energies of the Engine spread throughout the Creation, the change could occur and life could start. The two gods created (or perhaps invited?) other High Gods and ruled together, until something happened.
The myth isn't clear on that issue. The Tyrannus has clearly fallen, seeing that he is now in charge of the Immutable Hierarchy and is clearly insane. But the myth itself only speaks of harmony between the rulers. Among other things, it is a reason why the priest often dislike mentioning that particular myth in the open - they all know it, and its hard to truly hide it from the people (as the educated people know about it), but it's simply not something that anyone feels truly comfortable about.

Cosmological Views

The Imperial Cosmology is an eternal cycle. In a way, it's most basic mechanical foundation could be called a reincarnation - but one of the worlds rather than mortals. It is also composed of overlapping spheres, like a Matrioshka doll. The worlds - and souls to a much smaller degree, although their situation is a bit more different - pass through all the spheres, starting from the one on the outside and then steadily proceeding inwards. However for the virtue of better describing the mechanism, the description will start from the innermost sphere.

The Aetherial Vortex

The Aetherial Vortex is a raging ball of pure energy at the very center of the Creation, created by the power leaking from the World Engine in its midst. This plays a handful of roles in the cosmology as a whole. Firstly, it is the source of magic - the Aetherial Vortex is the domain of the most powerful elementals, from the four Vortex Lords (anarchs of the prime elements) to numerous of their lessers, including the gods of lesser elements and the elementals themselves. Whoever summons an elemental, does that because Aetherial Vortex exists (although due to constraints of power level and availability, the elementals pulled to the Material World tend to hail from another source).
Another, even more important role, is that the Aetherial Vortex is so potent that even only High Gods themselves can hope to approach the World Engine inside of it. Even the lesser gods would be wholly obliterated merely by trying to enter the ball of raging energies that the Vortex is.
There are two notable locations in the Vortex. The first and already mentioned is the World Engine - a heart of Cration in the deepest recess of the Vortex, inhabited by three most powerful of the Anarchs - the Anarchs of Fate, Causality and Dreams, created from the soul of the nameless deity whose remains were forged into the Engine. If there is such a thing as the soul, mind or will of the Creation itself, it's those three Anarchs that fit their description the most closely.
The second notable thing in the Vortex are the Gleaming Worlds. Those worlds - at some point inhabited by mortals - has long ago ended and traversed towards the innermost sphere of the Creation. They are purified by the energies of the Vortex, thoroughly wiped out until only a clean slate remains. Once that process is concluded they are ejected from the Vortex and traverse back to the outer edges of the Creation, being rebuilded and eventually repopulated by life.

The Inner Sphere

The Inner Sphere includes the worlds and places that are way closer to the World Engine than the Material Worlds, meaning that they exist on a much higher energy level. The exact results are hard to sufficiently explain. The beings that descend outwards tend to complain about the specific form of sensory deprivation when they not only 'feel' everything to a much lesser degree but also seem to lack certain concepts that seem to exist in the Inner Sphere (especially in the Radiant Worlds) yet are wholly absent from the worlds of matter. As a result, even communication with such beings is often rather troublesome and partial at best.
There are three main categories of the worlds of the Inner Sphere. The first are the Radiant Worlds, the worlds at the very edge of the Vortex, anchored to it in a stable matter. Radiant Worlds exist fundamentally beyond the mortal cognition, and the mere sight of them would have driven one still reliant on flesh insane. They are the domains of the High Gods themselves, exarchs and hierarchs alike. There are where the most honoured of the Dead ascend to. The actual state of the Radian Worlds in the post-Twilight War is anyone's guess.
They are the realms excluded from the normal cycle of destruction and rebirth of the worlds, a perk of being inhabited by a High God, the truly transcended rulers of Creation. It is also through them that the magic (theurgy and thaumaturgy alike) is channeled through into the less fortunate worlds.
The second type of locations in the Inner Sphere are the Spiritual Worlds. As places way higher on the metaphysical layer than worlds of matter, the concept of 'science' and 'physics' and so on is completely lost on these realms. They are, as the name implies, running on more spiritual and thus 'immaterial' principles. This is the realm of the spirits (primarily the numerous daemons of the imperial cosmology, serving exarchs and hierarchs alike), and all the numerous Dead formerly from the Material Worlds.
They are still close enough to the Outer Sphere for their inhabitants to visit the Material Worlds and vice versa. However the latter is rather rare - the higher energy level means that the inhabitants of the Spiritual World are naturally way stronger than the visitors, at least in their natural habitat.
Primal Worlds also known as Young Worlds are former Gleaming Worlds that were ejected from the Vortex and are currently passing through the Inner Sphere. The thirteen anarchs known as Demiurges and their numerous progeny work hard on them, creating a world that will eventually enter the Outer Sphere and be inhabited by the mortals.
These worlds are primal and wild. Powerful beasts, animals and elementals prowl their surface, skies and everything else. This instability - and the powerful anarchs that maintain an overwatch over their workplaces - prevents the exarchs and hierarchs from intervening in them. However the mages of the Material Worlds can summon creatures of the Primal Worlds occasionally, especially the local population of elementals (who also happen to of way more managable power levels that anything dwelling in the Aetherial Vortex).

The Outer Sphere

The Outer Sphere are the worlds that exist far enough from the World Engine to maintain a more cohesive set of rules and general stability. This is where the death exists, where mortals live and eventually forsake their bodies to climb towards the center universe. Their extremely 'low' energy level means both that and the fact that truly powerful beings simply cannot descend low enough to actually visit them.
Material Worlds are simple, stable and inhabited by a wide array of mortal species and other creature. The world of the Grand Empire of Karadia is one of the Material Worlds, occasionally referred to by the scholars as the Prime Material World. Or, simply, Terra.
Shard Worlds are what remains of a world that underwent some truly terrible catastrophe, enough of a disaster to destroy them almost completely, leaving nothing but a disparate shards floating in nothingness. They are way too many to count, at least ever since the Twilight War. Most of them have become a minuscule domains of archdaemons and lesser spirits who don't feel strong enough to strike out in the Spiritual World, but strong enough to establish such a minor domain (sometimes counted in square meters) in the Outer Sphere.
They are numerous - there milions of them per single complete Material World - and yet they are relatively unimportant on a greater scale of things.
Blank Worlds also known as Mundane, Deformed or Divergent Worlds are worlds that were ejected a bit too far during their tenure as Primal Worlds, and ended up thrown beyond the light of the World Engine. They are, simply speaking, too Material - they do not have magic, or have it so thin that it can't be verifiably wielded.
These magic is also so thin that visits from supernatural entities are practically unheard of. Visits from the inhabitants of the Material World are also unheard off.

Mechanics of Creation

Aside from the Primal Worlds (who are less drifting outward and more being ejected from the Vortex), the entire multiverse is naturally (if slowly) drifting upward. Finished Primal Worlds change into Material Worlds, which eventually ascend to Spiritual Worlds, and then probably are either merged into the Radiant Worlds (an unconfirmed theory) or become a Gleaming World, only to - after being purged back to a clean state - start the cycle again as a Primal World.
The idea that the creation and spread of Lost Lands indicates that this world is getting closer and closer to transforming into a Spiritual World probably messes up the sleep schedule of a lot of higher ranked mages (theurgists are calmer about it, provided that they can do their best to have the exarchs rule the resulting Spiritual World).
The cycle of worlds can take literally forever, at least from the perspective of mortals - the transition is inevitable, but takes an eternity when observed from the Material World - this is also the reason why no major cosmological changes were noticed ever since the beginning of the Grand Empire.
This process has two very important consequences. First one is that it’s TECHNICALLY easier to use powerful magic to traverse towards the central point of the Creation than to go towards the outside. However it’s a bit more complicated than that - while the cost in mana is several times smaller in the Outer Sphere, the Inner Sphere worlds has several times more mana, which balances itself out. Additional problem is the fact that an 'outer' being in an 'inner' world will be extremely low on power ladder and will find it extremely hard to gather enough mana to facilitate the return journey.
In the end it's the easiest when the two sides cooperate, which is why it is much easier to summon something from a Spiritual or a Primal World than to visit them personally or to have them manifest itself ‘down here’ on their own. Save for the Lost Lands, which are a bit of a middle-step between Spiritual and Material Worlds.

Afterlife

The second consequence is the way the afterlife works. Un-anchored souls float upward, naturally gravitating towards the spiritual worlds that are most aligned with their nature - so, for example, a tyrant or a bully will naturally gravitate towards one of the spiritual worlds controlled by the Immutable Hierarchy, while a true pervert will find their souls pulled towards a world of Rapturous Ecstasy. Those with more 'normal' inclinations will end up in one of many Spiritual Worlds most aligned with the Imperial Cult.
There are exceptions. The Dead who had somehow gathered an attention of a High God will instead have their souls escorted by the appropriate spirits straight into the Radiant Worlds. This is most common for more devout priests, Chosen Ones, and others who treated their religion very seriously.
The remaining Dead stay in the Spiritual World for a subjective eternity (although without an organic body the definition of 'subjectivity' is rather skewed, and the eternity is way from being tiring or boring). They eventually will end in the Radiant World, but it will take a long time, there is always a risk of something happening along the way (at least ever since the Twilight War happened). Not gravitating towards the realms of the Hierarchs is 'good' afterlife, but not the best one.
Some priests speculated that the souls eventually go even upward from the Radiant Worlds, entering the Gleaming Worlds and being 'purged' of their contents, before going down through the Primal Worlds to be reused. Others believe that Radiant Worlds are the end point and you simply do not have to continue on anywhere. Some others go the middle way and say that eventually a soul gets to the Aetherial Vortex and simply stops existing.

Ethics

The Cult's tenets are that of the Honour, Exarch of Authority, with teachings of Caritas, Exarch of Mercy and Iudex, Exarch of Judgment. They preach honesty, courage of both moral and militant nature, diligence in work for the greater good of the society (in both politics or working hard), upholding the law and keeping your word, regardless of what it costs you - and trying to help those less fortunate, provided that they too are doing what they can or can't do a thing.
The Imperial Cult is a religion of both personal and societal nature. It expects the believers to be morally conscious and ask themselves important questions concerning what should be done and what shouldn't be, making sins and impurity a personal issue. However it also believes that the society has to reflect the values of the gods. Just as mortals can sin, so can a society or a country - and gods can withhold their blessings from the society when certain rituals aren't upholded and their teachings are ignored. When this occurs, the punishment will be collective. Sin of the community is the sin of those that make up for it - after all, leaving it or dying to fix the wrongs that were done was always an option.
Sins can accumulate until one falls into darkness. The aftermath of the Twilight War has proven it beyond doubt. There are many types of corruption, typically born of the one influencing the Hierarchs. There are proper rituals to purify yourself from such influences. However while one can get corrupted against their will, the actual fall requires conscious decision. The corruption will impart certain desires or thoughts upon someone, however until they consciously decide to give in to the corruption, they can always be saved. In fact, rituals of purification also require one's conscious decisions to perform to their fullest - and merely refusing to give in to the corruption for long enough will gradually weaken the influence, provided that the original source of it is no longer near.

Worship

While there is a clearly personalist element to the worldview of the Imperial Cult, the actual list of worship methods that are supposed to be employed by the believers is rather limited. Majority of the rirtuals and practices aren't done on your own. The concept of prayer is a bit lost on the imperials.
Instead there are many rituals done by the appropriate priests at appropriate days, including quite a bit of ritual sacrifice (of animals or crops). There are also rituals for burial, rituals for marriages and so on - all of that done with a group of people present. Instead of personal prayers, the best way to show your devotion to the gods is by acting according to their tenets.

Priesthood

There are priests, naturally. The Imperial Cult has several types and ranks of them, in fact. They share their origin - all of them are trained and educated at the numerous sanctuaries throughout the Empire. Then, however, things diverge.
To begin with, every of the twenty Exarchs has their own separated priesthoods. The ranks are the same, but there are great variations in preferred clothes between not only the priest hierarchies but even between those in various regions of the Empire. The common element is the colour white - in fact, a pristine white, as the attire of the priests is blessed properly to maintain this colour, regardless of circumstances.
Every temple with more than one priest also elects a head priest from among themselves, although this is more of a 'first among equals' situation, When there is more than one temple in the city, the head priests are supposed to make decisions colegially. Above them are the high priests, who oversee the priesthood of the province, regardless of its religious allegiance. Typically they hail from the priesthood of Honour, but they are cases when sufficiently suitable candidate from outside is chosen.
Above the high priests are the pontiffs - religious overseers of an entire diocesis of Karadia. There are fourteen of those: Itavia, Karthia, Nortarrica, Morica, Maroth, Hellana, Pannia, Iria, Frankia, Itirria, Elvhara, Nikopol, Alvaena, and Vestiria. In the past there were also seats for Sarirkia, Vhessana, Niflheim, Drakha, Verkvena and Ceveria - people are still elected for them, but this is more of a titular thing, but with some marginal exceptions (Vhessana, Niflheim and Verkvena still have either a majority or minority of the practicing imperials).
Finally, there is the pontifex maximus. Elected from among the pontiffs (by pontiffs and high priests) for life. The absolute and undisputed head of the Imperial Cult.

Political Influence & Intrigue

The Imperial Cult expects the Grand Empire to reflect the values and teachings of the High Gods - and considers ensuring that its divine mission. It possesses widespread secular empire through the work of its numerous priests - for example priests of Fortuna often run local banks, while priests of Salubritas run many public baths and so on. What's more, there is also its moral authority - while it varies between the priests, most of them are people of public trust.
The main reason why the Imperial Cult hasn't tried to launch a coup at some point is because it has to be done flawlessly (otherwise, the followers of the dark gods would took advantage of the weakness caused by civil war of this scale), and because the Cult is internally divided between those preferring establishment of theocracy and those who prefer to maintain the Empire while using its influence to control the Emperors. There is also the fact that not all of the faithful share the sentiment of the more politically-active priesthoods of the Cult, since they consider them to be simply overreaching.

Type: Faction.
Allegiance: Grand Empire of Karadia
Imperial Council: Yes.
Current Head: Serenity II
Organization Ranks:
Priest - Rank and file priests.
Head Priest - Head of a single temple.
High Priest - Oversees the Cult 'empire' in a single province.
Pontiff - Oversees the high priests of a single diocesis.
Pontifex Maximus - The head of the Cult.

Combat Strength
Priests - Est. 1 000 000.
Templars - Est. 1 500 000.
Chosen Ones - Rarely more than 5 at once.
Divine Spirits - Varied.

List of Worshipped Deities

High Gods
Honour, Exarch of Authority
Bellaminae, Exarch of War
Sol, Exarch of Day
Iudex, Exarch of Judgment
Caritas, Exarch of Mercy
Artifex, Exarch of Industry
Mors, Exarch of Passage
Amor, Exarch of Love
Fertilitas, Exarch of Hearthfire
Hortulanus, Exarch of Sustenance
Fortuna, Exarch of Wealth
Historia, Exarch of Knowledge
Salubritas, Exarch of Purity
Navis, Exarch of Sails
Venatrix, Exarch of Hunts
Audacia, Exarch of Bravery
Musa, Exarch of Beauty
Veneficus, Exarch of Power
Sodalitas, Exarch of Companionship
Epulae, Exarch of Feasts