Cult of the Whitehand

The Cult of the Whitehand, commonly known as simply the Whitehand, is a pagan cult formed by Jesse Roselorwenn (the Red Queen) that practices the worship of a parthenon of "lizard gods" and seek to create a hierarchical society built for a restored human civilization. Much on their culture relies the need of a pragmatic society with a slave-based economy while connecting themselves with their primitive nature and simplicity as opposed to monotheistic religion, modern technology, and democracy. It is the current ruling power of the Northern Realms.

Origins
Before the Great Incident, Jesse Roselorwenn, the neopagan daughter of a wealthy businessman, held doubts and distrust towards Christianity, the Jews, modernism, and Darwinian evolution. At some point in her life, she began read from three books that would eventually influence her and bring about the birth of the cult. These books were The Histories by Herodotus, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson, and The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche. These works, combined with first twelve days after the Incident, she would use what she had learned to create a theocractic, hierarchal luddite society based on a slave economy.

Establishment
During the thirteenth day since the incident,  Jesse and a cult of like minded students began to worship the "lizard-men" as gods, despite that the ones mentioned by Eli Winterstein were actually Sauroids, soon formed the Whitehand and left Travis Jefferson High, located within the center of the Crater Desert, towards the settlement of Wreck City within the Barren Wastes. There, under the leadership of Sergei Yukovich, who they sought to gain asylum, the newly formed cult eventually felt disgusted with the city's hypocritical treatment upon women and soon left off to the Devil's Nest, unite the barbarian tribes of the region, and waged war upon the communist regime. However, the conflict was short-lived, as both Wreck City and the Devil's Nest were destroyed in a catastrophic explosion caused by the accidental launching of their weapons. Eventually, on the night of the twenty-ninth day since the incident, Travis Jefferson High was taken over by the Whitehand, which had survived the chaos in the Barren Wastes with Jesse gaining power over the Crater Desert, along with a few surrounding territories.

Reign and Crisis


With Mrs. Stewart overthrown, along with the support of her dwarven mercenaries, Jesse made sure that the society of Travis Jefferson High would become a theocratic-polythenistic kingdom under her rule with a hierarchal structure and a slave-based economy. In this new order, no one could rise above nor go below their place in society and all symbols and technologies of modern civilization were forcefully replaced by a more primitive, yet highly efficient culture (with the exception of guns, light bulbs, surveillance systems, robotic laborers, alarms, tools for anatomy and biology purposes, and explosives). However, some regions that were under the control of treacherous generals, including General Agrona's formation of the independent nation of Avalonia, along with Boudica and her Great Rock Tribe claiming control of Davis Harrison High, the Whitehand faced territorial conflicts that often led to civil war within its domain. It also faced a few uprisings such as the Grimm Crisis and struggled to maintain order and left the Red Queen furious due to the damaging effect it had brought upon her reputation. As a result, opposition movements such as the White Socialist Workers' Movement, the Children of Nubia, and the Lord's Liberation Legion to take advantage of the anxiety in which populous began to suffer from. However, with Eli imprisoned after his plans were exposed by Jesse herself, the Whitehand slowly recovered and turned its sights on the Southern Kingdoms.

War with the South
Once it had completed the absorbtion the Redfoot and  Sunhand tribes, the Whitehand launched a series of campaigns against the Southern Kingdoms.

Culture and Politics
The Whitehand is a theocratic, hierarchical, neo-pagan society ruled by an absolute monarchy with the ruler being worshipped as a god-like being. According to its philosophy, humanity was not the product of evolution, but was instead created by a pantheon of "lizard gods" through spiritual experimentation and genetic engineering in order to spread the cult's word and preserve life. The Whitehand also appears to hold an abhorrance towards modernity, democracy, industrialization, monotheism, atheism, and free will while supporting a system based on slavery, predestination, ruralism, polytheism, elitism, and uniformity. Although technologically at the same level as the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age, the cult's leadership does appear to accept the use of electricity, firearms, surveillance systems, alarms, tools for surgery, communication technology, and explosives.

The cult holds a dress code that limits all its citizens into wearing robes, loincloths, togas, and tunics, although dwarves are excluded from this code.

Religion
The Whitehand centers around the worship of five major gods that were once worshipped by the ancient Mesopotamians: Marduk, the god of storms and, indeed, the king of the gods, Ishtar, goddess of beauty, sex, and desire, Enlil, god of wind, wind, earth, and storms, Nergal, god of the underworld, and Ninurta, god of agriculture, hunting, and war. The religion involves an all-female priesthood handpicked by the Red Queen herself, serving both as political and spiritual leaders for the Whitehand's territorial possessions.

Philosophy

 * Neo-Paganism: Cult of the Whitehand centers around the worship of Jesse Roselorwenn (aka: the Red Queen) and the "lizard gods" that she speaks of, promoted by a leading group of all-female priestesses. To the fanatical followers of the Cult, the Red Queen is a living goddess born from a divine lineage of god-kings.
 * Tribal Feudalism: Despite the belief in a divine monarch, the Whitehand is actually a loose confederation of warring tribes united only by both its religious teachings and the Red Queen's god-like status.
 * Creationism and Flat Earth: The Cult forbids the teaching of evolution in favor of a flat, disc-shaped earth within a geocentric universe. It also believes that humanity was created from the earth by the "lizard gods" to serve as their subjects. Social Darwinism is deemed as an excuse for wastefulness and therefore considered blasmaphey.
 * Nonsentient Evolution: Ironically, despite declaing humanity a special creation brought about by the "lizard gods" for the sole purpose of preserving life and enforcing their will, the Whitehand does accept that nonsentient lifeforms, both plants and animals alike, do evolve naturally over a long period of time.
 * Fundamentalism: The Cult, at its very nature, is a deeply fundamentalist movement bent on indoctrinating every man, woman, and child in the "new world." Suicide bombings, terrorism, scorched earth tactics, and flagellation are common methods used by its members to strike fear into its subjects. Atheism, monotheism, and secularism are deemed false and punishable by death. Homosexuality is declared an abomination, leading to harsh punishments against gay communities. Individualism is declared taboo.
 * Nihilism: The Cult sees no value in a moralistic society, prefering that society should live under by only one law: submit to the Red Queen and the gods or die a nonbeliever. Violence, inbreeding, stealing, adultry, and rape are common throughout the Cult's territory. The concept of marriage does not exist since women outside of the leadership are treated as little more than property by their male counterparts.
 * Fideism: The Cult believes that only faith alone is needed for a society to exist. Science, theology, and history are declared "falsehoods" by its leaders, although their society is modeled after Bronze Age civilizations such as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Superstition fueled by mysticism and scientific ignorance become rampant among the followers of the Whitehand, since most are illiterate tribals who live in a barbaric existence.
 * Primitivism: Although it has some exceptions, the Cult nevertheless denounces all advanced technology as "cursed," leading towards a luddite way of living. Most tribes that are part of the cult oppose the use of firearms and/or explosives, prefering to continue living in Stone Age conditions instead. Red Queen and her inner circle, however, do condone the use of these weapons, but restrict them to only their elite warriors.
 * Elitism: The Cult's social hierarchy is based on the existence of a god-like elite that serve as the ruling class of society. Concepts of equality are frowned upon, sometimes leading to mob violence against their supporters.
 * Apocalypticism: The Cult is greatly infamous for espousing a doomsday mentality that indoctrinates people into believing that all of existence will come to an end. Because of this, it discourages morality, science, history, and equality as "pointless" compared to what is expected to come.