Dae’Kos
The religion of Dae’Kos was founded in the Sovereignty of Riavan centuries ago in the uncertain time before The Fracture. It has since become the dominant faith of the Sovereignty and has adherents throughout the galaxy. Unlike the other major religions, Dae’Kos has no specific Gods. Rather, the core belief is that the universe itself, in a general diffuse sense, will reward the virtuous and punish the wicked. Sometimes the reward or punishment may come to descendants instead of to the person directly. Therefore, followers of Dae’Kos believe in a fundamental fairness of an ordered universe, but sometimes that fairness can be hard to discern.
Structurally, Dae’Kos is notable in the very loose affiliations of its Monasteries where Anchorites meditate and develop philosophic insights. These Monasteries are generally independent with no central authority that claims control over the religion as a whole. However, the most sacred place in the galaxy is considered to be a mountain monastery on the Sovereignty world of Teralon. There resides an Anchorite known only as The Sedate whose ruminations on Dae’Kos are treated as close to holy writ as the faith gets.
Followers of Dae’Kos often wear beaded jewelry with two different colors of beads to represent virtue and vice. Others may also decorate their homes with balancing scales or similar and add counters or tokens to one side or the other over time when they feel they have done something noteworthy. It is considered extremely rude in Dae’Kos to overtly comment on the balance of morality someone is displaying without invitation to do so.
The Children of Dragons
The Children of Dragons is a religion that worships the creation of the universe and searches for meaning through the teachings of the Dragon Gods. They believe that the universe was created by seven beings of power and seek to emulate them to attain truth and strength. The Children of Dragons appears all over the known universe, but the Draconic Basilica, headquarters of the church, is located in the Hotanga Alliance on the world of Moraine.
Followers of the church tend to display their affiliation with the church with a totem or charm of some kind that resembles a dragon. The Dragons are each associated with a different color as outlined in their individual descriptions. Typically, for a flag or banner, a silver or gold dragon will appear on a field of the color that represents the Dragon and it will be trimmed with the same metallic color. Alternatively, the dragon may be the associated color on a silver or gold field.
The Imperial Cult
The Imperial Cult of Illara is an ancient religion dating back to before Humans, Eldani, and Azoth lost their original home. As centuries have passed, the Cult has been a bastion of tradition, teaching the histories of the gods and Illara as a whole. Its fastidiousness has allowed it to stay strong through the hardships of the Illaran people.
It is derived of a pantheon of Gods that have watched over humanity for eons, representing concepts of the natural world and traits of sentience. While the composition of the pantheon has changed little over the millennia, emphasis has shifted in mortal perception of importance.The pantheon is as follows: Saltoran, God of the Sun; Lerita, Goddess of the Ocean; Genna, Lady of the Earth; Kel-Lares, God of the Night; Terus, God of Borders; Darok, God of the Home; Salendra, Goddess of Storms; and Resika, Goddess of the Dark.
The Imperial Cult also reveres The Invictus as the avatars of the Gods who came to Illara in the times of legend to lead the Republic against dark forces that sought to destroy it. They were betrayed, however, by heretics known as the Ravens and killed by Demons summoned from Hell itself. Some members of the Cult believe that in a time of crisis the Invictus may be reborn by the Gods and sent to guide the faithful to salvation.
The Cult widely celebrates several holidays. Salendra’s Wakening is an arts and cultures festival held every year in early spring. Saltoran’s Honor, held in late spring, is a day of accolades and celebrations. Lerita’s Reckoning, in the early fall- a serious occasion for righting wrongs and taking responsibility. Genna’s Rite, in late fall, is a time of prosperity, hospitality, and gratitude.
The Sun and Stars
The state religion of the Khezeratt of The Sun and The Stars revolves around two major principles in the worship of the Sun God Solesin Varinkhar.
First, that The Sun is the source of all life and The Sun demands that each person live that life to the fullest and that each person must constantly strive for perfection. It is only through by virtue of the effort of being being better tomorrow than you were yesterday that the blessings of The Sun will be actualized and the Path of The Stars will be opened for you.
Second, that all blessed souls will have the Path of the Stars opened to them and that when their soul is ready to pass beyond their mortal shell, they will enter the Path and be guided through The Stars for ever.
The religion of The Sun and The Stars was first codified by the Hebdomad Prophet during the great Hajra before the Khezera found their home on An-Tesh. He brought a disparate group of people together and formed them into the seven orders that we see among the Khezeratt today. Each of the orders oversee parts of the religious and civil life of the Khezera. Each of the orders is led by a Primus of the order with the Sun-King being the Primus of the First order and leader of the state and religion. The Sun and The Stars is the religion of the Khezeratt. The Worship of no other religion is openly allowed within the nation. The Sun-King’s acaloyts spread his teachings and his readings of the Hebdomad prophecy.
Cult Of the Wanderer
The Cult of The Wanderer is a religion illegal in all of the nations of the galaxy for its violence and anarchist exhortations. While not nearly as large as one of the predominant interstellar religions, the Cult has made a name for itself through acts of murder, blood sacrifice, and the kidnapping and forced conversion of innocents.
The Cult’s beliefs are shrouded in mystery but some things are known. They worship a being they call The Wanderer and from its teachings they are commanded to wreak havoc and destruction wherever possible in an ongoing quest to test their personal faith and devotion. The Cult operates in localized Synods led by a Venerat, who deals with religious matters, and a Rasan, who is the martial strategist and leader.
Player characters may not begin as members of The Cult of Wanderer.
Denara - The Skald of Heaven
The preeminent religion of the Calid Circle, worship of the Skald of Heaven is largely a sacred storytelling tradition with Denara, the eponymous Skald, as its central figure. Denara’s name is often invoked as a folk blessing within the Calid Circle. The targets of Calid raids often believe Denara to be a wild and violent war deity, although this view falls far short of how adherents view their faith.
The stories and legends surrounding Denara’s deeds and ascension to becoming the Skald of Heaven are many and varied, and sometimes contradict each other, but most tellings say that sie was a non-binary Zeverian from ancient days. Common belief holds that Denara watches all, with the sun as hir eyes, so worship of the Skald is most often held in daylight where it can be witnessed. Communal storytelling is the most typical form of worship, as befits a Skald: the faith holds relatively little regard for navel-gazing and introspective spirituality.
The worship of Denara has spread little beyond the borders of the Calid Circle and so it is considered a minor faith in comparison to the major religions of Dae’Kos, the Imperial Cult, the Sun and Stars, and the Children of Dragons.