Cult of the Nine Arches

Emblems of the three largest sub-cults within the Cult of the Nine Arches upper: Cult of the Creator Middle: Cult of the True Gods (also the most commonly used symbol of the Cult of the Nine Arches) lower: a variant of the Cult of the Destroyer

The Cult of the Nine Arches or Cult of the 9 Arches is a religion that worships the Entities as the true gods of the multiverse. They dismiss any other deity as a projection or as a follower of the Entities. This religion has found its way into every corner of the Known Multiverse and has become one of the many sanctioned religions in the Multiversal Federation. The Religion itself is far older than any other religion in the known multiverse, being theorized to exist as far back as the Precursors, the Empire of the Combine Race even adopted it as their main state religion along with the Balance Faith. Over the course of the First War, numerous planets in the Multiverse slowly started to adopt the religion, and continue to grow and expand in the centuries after it, in fact, one of the first things that happens to a newly discovered universe, aside from rapid adoption of new technologies, is the adoption of the Cult of the Nine Arches. By the time of the Federation's creation, the Cult of the Nine Arches had effectively been adopted by all in the known multiverse.

The Entities know of this religion's exist for numerous eons, and most are largely apathetic towards it and the most these beings show of any kind of acknowledgment is amusement purely. The Entities don't care if sentient beings worship them or not, they continue to exist, long after these various species have gone extinct. Though considering how often this religion comes back and spreads, one wonders if the existence of these entities leads to the creation of this religion or similar religions in the first place.

Beliefs and Customs

The cult does not have a truly unified set of beliefs and practice of worship, with them varying wildly depending upon the entity being worshipped. In practice, the Cult of the Nine Arches is a loose association of various religious communities vaguely united under the shared belief of the Entities being the true gods of the existence and thus is a collective name of a group of religions rather than one religious entity, being more akin to the gods of the Greek Citystates and Rome then the god of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. As a result, the cult is split into numerous 'sub-cults' that corresponds with a particular entity in question and how this sub-cult practice their beliefs and customs towards this particular entity. However, there is a semi-unified set of beliefs that doesn't worship one particular entity but all of them collectively, which is often regarded as the primary sub-cult of the massive religious body that is the Cult of the Nine Arches

Cult of the True Gods

The cult of the true gods is the name of the main sub-cult that worships all the entities collectively and believes that all the current gods/morts with god-like powers and or worshipped as gods in the Multiverse are either shards or avatars of the entities in varying degrees.

Cult of the Destroyer

also referred to as the Cult of the Hunter, the cult of the destroyer is the sub-cult that worship the Hunter exclusively, unlike the other sub-cults of the nine arches, with possible exemption bein the cult of the Haunting Voice, most followers of the cult of the destroyer are often described as being utterly horrified by the Hunter, and all the often horrifying actions performed by them are their own delusional attempts at pleasing or at the very least convincing the monstrous entity from destroying their universes. However, this isn't always the case, as there are some who are apart of the cult who don't fear the Hunter nearly as much as the rest, largely due in part to wishing to join in on the slaughter that the Hunter typically unleashes whenever it grows bored/wants to do something 'fun'. In short, the people who follow this cult are either terrified people deluded into believing they could convince the hunter from not slaughter their home universes or other omnicidal maniacs who wish to aid the Hunter in its slaughter.

Cult of the Creator

also referred to as the Cult of the Planter, the cult of the creator is the sub-cult that worship the Planter exclusively

Cult of the Cycle

The cult of the cycle exclusively worships The Planter, The Hunter and The Casket Builder, as they symbolize the three states of life.