The Cult of Light

Describe a cult in your world. How did they form and what do they believe in?

The Cult of Light formed almost immediately upon arrival on the Garden. Though most of the passengers aboard The Endeavor opted for genetic modifications to harden them for planetary living, a core group of families resisted the idea. To them, modifying their bodies or taking on animistic traits for survival was abhorrent.
They kept to themselves on planetfall, determined to keep the "purity" of their blood. For this reason, they kept away all people who had modified their genes and built the Shining City on what was then called Iris Island.
Since then, obsession with the purity of the race and supremacy of humanity over nature has become a religious belief. The history of The Endeavor and the Thousand Generations has largely been lost, but many of the technologies have been recovered. The core beliefs of this group are as follows:

1. Humanity Is Superior

All other lifeforms are lesser, and not worthy of even the most basic respect. All resources are for humans to harvest, all lesser life to be harvested for the benefit of humanity.

2. All Creation Turned On Humanity

They see themselves as victims- after all, humans have evolved with the main concern being intelligence and utilizing it. Without fur or claws or fangs, survival in the wild is incredibly hard for them. The Shining Cult sees this as a rejection from the natural order, a death warrant that all nature tries to complete the moment one steps outside the safety of the City. In their lore, that death warrant is a punishment from the Gods for a crime they did not commit.

3. Animists Are Inhuman

The Nine Nations which live across the Garden are seen by the Cult as animals at best, monsters more often. The few citizens who have seen one find their humanistic traits disturbing- an Uncanny Valley-like effect. Unlike most animals out in the wild, however, there is an attitude in the Cult that these creatures should be exterminated on sight. They are not needed by the ecosystem- they're some kind of freakish mutation that needs to be eliminated.

4. There is only the City, for Humans

Since the Cult runs the City, they have an interest in preserving their power by preventing additional colonies from forming on the lakeshores. Thus, they enforce the belief that the City is safe, somehow, and that overcrowding needs to be prevented rather than dealt with after. Many regulations are in place to limit the population as well as preventing the need for external colonies.

Type

Religious, Cult

Subsidiary Organizations

• The Shining City

Permeated Organizations

• The Shining City