Cult of the God Emperor

The Cult of the God Emperor is the official religion of the Shenshari dedicated to the worship of the God Emperor.

Beliefs and Practices
The Cult of the God Emperor is a monotheistic religion based on the life, legend, and divinity of the God Emperor himself. Since its founding, it has become integrated into Shenshari society. Priests and priestesses perform animal sacrifice as offerings to him, viewing human sacrifice as abhorrent. The cult also has a strong distrust towards witchcraft and has sometimes led to witch hunts that end in executing the women accused of the act without trial.

Homosexuality is highly condemned and the punishment for the act is to be stoned. Incest is considered the most gravest offense to the God Emperor, blaming it for the corruption of the old gods that ultimately enslaved mankind. Despite this, however, certain families, including the royal family of Barusia, practice it in secret. Bastardy, adultry, alcohol, and the worship of foreign gods are frowned upon. Divorce is allowed, but only men enjoy that right.

The cult views people with dark skin and/or red hair as "cursed" from birth by adultry and therefore consider them to be "lowly beasts."

Cosmology
Followers of the cult accept a round, spherical earth within a heliocentric universe (the solar system) with the spiritual realm being outside of it, as they seem to lack other astronomical information. They also believe that the universe is about thirty thousand years old, although some accept that its true age being billions of years old. This is possibly due to the fact that the cult is not concerned with the age of the universe and leaves it up to its followers.

The Flaming Abyss, which is the Cult's equivalent of Hell, is considered to be the realm of punishment for the damned as well as the place where the remnants of the old gods were chained up in by the God Emperor. It is believed that it is located beneath the known universe and is described as a dark, fiery pit guarded by feathered beasts with the jaws of a crocodile and the legs of a bird (possibly in reference to Yutyrannus).

Surrounding the known universe is the Plain of the Useless, where the spirits of the lazy, gluttonous, hedonistic, poor, ignorant, and deformed reside. Those who end up within this part of the afterlife are said to be brought into a state of perpetual boredom.

Above the known universe is the Hall of the Righteous, where the God Emperor resides upon his golden throne alongside the souls of the virtuous, the courageous, the selfless, and the wise. It is said to be a glamorous paradise of bliss, guarded by the spirits of warriors who remained true to his word during their time as mortals.

The Four Paragons
According to tradition, the God Emperor, who is now an omnipotent, omnipresent deity, provides his blessings upon his followers through a group of saintified individuals called the Four Paragons: the Son, the Daughter, and the Warrior. Each city-state within Shenshar uses one of the three as a patron paragon. The sect in Arzagorn is dedicated to God Emperor's greatest general, Arestro the Conqueror, who values strength, courage, and honor. The sect in Chiroga focuses its devoution to his daughter, Alithea the Wise, who values mercy, patience, and cleanliness. The sect in Barusia is based on the teachings of his son, Persamos the Great, who values intellect, creativity, and justice. The sect in Minoshar is dedicated to the Emperor's wife, the Silver Empress, who values motherhood, chasity, and beauty. Each of the three are considered important to the cult as the act of praising at least one of them ensures the God Emperor's blessing.

The World Serpent
The Cult states that an old god called the World Serpent, sometimes called the Devil, exists as the harbinger of evil and the father of demons and monsters. According to this belief, he takes the form of a massive snake and engulfs the mortal universe while biting its tail and was responsible for tempting the first generation of human beings into committing the sin of idolatry, which is believed to be the source of all other forms of wickedness. Because of this, the ritualistic practices of snake handling and blood sacrifice are condemned as taboo. It is also said that the World Serpent would wage a final battle against the God Emperor in the apocalyptic end times.