Unreviewed The Cult of Saud

[Davak]

⛧ THE CULT OF SAUD ⛧
"Burn them O'Lord, burn them so they may be pure."

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To establish the Cult of Saud as a radical splinter-sect of the Church of the Dark Side. This provides RP depth for fanatic followers, sacrificial rituals, and zealot soldiers within the Empire's religious structure.
• Image Credit: N/A
• Canon: Inspired by the Mawite pantheon of Avatars (Death, Rebirth, War) and the Church of the Dark Side.
• Permissions: N/A
• Links:
  – Church of the Dark Side Codex Update
  – Da'Razel

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Religion Name: The Cult of Saud
• Religion Type: Monotheist
• Influence: Minor, zealous sects within the larger Dark Church.
  
• Influence Area: Most often found in Mawite enclaves, Imperial prisons, and radical chapels within the Empire. Pockets appear wherever the Church spreads, though they remain an extremist minority.
• Symbol: A circle with eight lines, representing the dark sun at the core of the Empire.
• Description: The Cult of Flame arose as a radical sect within the Church of the Dark Side, exalting Solipsis as a god cloaked in fire, envisioned as an ever-burning flame. As the Church's influence spread, so too did this fervent devotion. Its veneration grew more abstract, doctrine more elaborate, until fire itself was no longer just symbol, but sanctity incarnate.
  
  Amid campaigns across the galaxy, whispers of a warrior-priest clad in living flame began to circulate. Stories became scripture, scripture gave way to legend until the line between myth and man was burned away in the blaze.
  
  As past Mawites enlisted into the newly formed Empire, Saint Peterius was declared the incarnation of fire, a spirit of the Avatars given flesh. A walking testament that pyre itself can take mortal form. His flames are a path to ascension, and by enduring or dying in them, one purifies weakness and rises closer to the divine.
  
  The cult is small, violent, and uncompromising. Members scarify or brand themselves in imitation of their Saint, sacrifice unbelievers by burning them alive, and even consign their own to ritual immolation. To them, fire is truth, it purges lies, burns away weakness, and reveals only what endures.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Founder: Saint Peterius (Da'Razel). Though the cult began with the first priests who witnessed his firestorms upon Gehinnom and proclaimed him incarnation of flame.
• Membership: To join, initiates must bear the mark of flame: ritual self-burning performed before witnesses, their scars testifying to purity of belief in the Emperor and their Saint.
• Sacred:
  – Fire in all forms
  – Ashes of martyrs, preserved in censers and burned in rites
  – Gehinnom, where Saint Peterius' fire first manifested
• Dogma:
  – Fire is truth; flame purifies lies, weakness, and betrayal.
  – Pain is proof of life; scars are proof of devotion.
  – Death in flame is ascension; survival is divine favor.
  – Saint Peterius is flame incarnate, path to Solipsis' will.
  – Nonbelievers must be converted by flame, or consumed by it.
• Reputation: Among the wider Church, the Cult of Saud is both revered and feared zealots aflame with conviction, but whose sacrifices and immolations are seen as dangerous excesses. To outsiders, they are extremist fanatics, arsonists, and death-cultists.

MEMBERS

– Saint Peterius (Da'Razel)
– The Kasta Raka
– [Space for PCs/NPCs as they join or emerge.]

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

The Cult of Saud began on Gehinnom, when Da'Razel's pyrokinetic fury immolated his captors and branded his tale into myth. Priests who witnessed it declared Solipsis had grafted an Avatar's spirit into flesh that Da'Razel was flame incarnate, Saint Peterius, the Avatar of Fire walking among mortals.

From those first witnesses grew zealots who scarred and burned themselves in imitation. They rejected the stiffness of the wider Empire, seeking instead the purity of fire and worship. Many refused to integrate into Imperial order, preferring immersion in extremism.

Over time, the Cult grew notorious for brutal rites. They burned prisoners alive in sacrificial pyres, scattered martyrs' ashes into incense, and branded their flesh as living scripture. Some members willingly offered themselves to the flames, vanishing in smoke and screams.

Today, the Cult of Flame remains a dangerous minority within the Dark Church small in number, absolute in faith. Their censers trail smoke behind their prophets steps, their chants echo in burning sanctuaries, and the ashes left in their wake testify that fire alone is the path to ascension.