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 The Nine 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 have existed as far back as the Precursors, with 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

Rreferred 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.

Cult of the Tormenter

The Cult of the Haunting voice are one of the weird sects within the nine arches cult as they use writing and audio as a communication technique towards their entity. They sometimes use sacrifices of those who they lure into their cult as sacrifices to earn the attention of the Haunting voice and sometimes mimic the Haunting voice's techniques. They praise this entity as the true god of death though this often leads to them being targeted by Cultists of the Cult of the Destroyer, who obviously disagreed violently.

Most often then not, the cult of the Haunting voice sometimes betray its members by which results in the Haunting voice entity being please with its own cult who are most often than not heralds of the Haunting voice. While not in the same sense of a Herald as being a best friend, the haunting voice sometimes grants its followers protection and in some cases draws one into its realm. However, no Herald of the Haunting voice that's been drawn into its domain have never been seen or heard from again, though its suspected that the Haunting voice does something with the cultests though many doubt the herald is "living" in some sense.

Cult of the Eternal War

Those who worship either the The Vanquisher and The Brawler have been known to value violence and conflicts, they have been known as the Warbringers who have been growing ever since the First Multiverse War when many raiders, soldiers, and bandits came together by the Heralds such as Rukahn Khrayf to ignite the conflicting belief that the battles will make them into greater warriors and gain favour of the Entities. Should they gain favour of the Heralds, they must go through a challenge of battles to test their worth to the Heralds and sacred rituals before they march into battle and let out a battle cry. Many of the cult believe wars and conflicts bring out the strongest and remove the week from existence, They often have better relations with other cults such as the Cult of the Dominator with both respect and rivalry to honor their fellow Entities

Cult of the Eternal Peace

Worshippers who value peace dedicated to the Diplomat

Cult of the Builder

Among the most cults, the Cult of the Builder have been known for having members who are researchers, engineers, and most commonly AIs to build and create something new. Gaining knowledge and wisdom from The Constructor and its heralds to continue their progress and development.

Cult of the Perfection

The worshippers of the Perfect believe in the philosophy of perfection and wish to create a perfect world in it's image. However this does mean that this cult is the most inflicted by the Chaos God Slaneesh whenever this Entity's believers are in the Flop'lla universe. The cult does strive for perfection and not just in society's values.

Cult of the Insane

Priests of the Mind

Members of the Cult of the Insane would often worship the Splitted come to honor the entity through the cause of the being's psychiatry and seek out understanding of what triggers it. They are considered to be a bizarre and strange cult for their beliefs.

Cult of the Kind Lover

Those who worship The Lover are free to express their love and affectionate, and in most cases their lustful desires.

Cult of the Great Explorer

Made up of Explorers and travellers who show their devotion to The Cartographer.

Cult of the Wealth

A Cult that is made to pay their respects to both The Philanthropist and The Avaricious in worship of wealth, although some have different views such as greed and charitable causes

Cult of Dark Hedonism

A Cult formed from the followers of the Outsider, who indulge in their most depraved and dark vices, either being great artists and poets or complete and utter degenerates.

Notes

• Despite what most people assume that these cults were directly created by the Entities in some way, its' simply not the case, instead the cults are organic, created by people who become aware of the Entities and as a result some people began to worship the entities or specific entities.
• All the other Entities, san the Perfect, are rather apathetic towards the cults, often frustrated, annoyed or mildly amused by the cultists to varying degrees, likely owning to the vast majority of the Entities not viewing themselves as gods.
• The Perfect is the one entity that regularly interacts with its cult, but all the cults do have interacts with their preferred Entities, though the reasons for these interacts are considerably different from the Perfect.
• the near totality of the Entities rarely interacts with the Cults but do so occasionally, typically to use them for various purposes, especially the more malevolent entities, who often use the cultists as tools or "experiments". The only times the more benevolent Entities interact with the cults is when they desire something from the cults, like the Lover seeking a new, well, lover or lovers.