Cult of the Loop

The Cult of the Loop, also know as the Void Cults, the Cult of the Worm-in-Waiting, the Aagiokratia and the Cult of the Worm, is the catch-all term for a religion which is centered around worshipping the Worm-in-Waiting, known to all Loop adherents as "the Void King", "Void God", "God of the Void", and "Void Emperor". It is the largest religion in the Void, with Christianity as the second largest religion.
== List of denominations of the Void Cults ==
Gnosticism: Gnosticism is a denomination of a Cult of the Loop and the most largest denomination in the Void. Gnostics worship in cathedrals, temples and shrines located in various cities, though there are some churches scattered throughout municipalities, barangays and districts. Its rituals and activities were similar to the activities Catholics performed; this was the result of unknowingly adopting the traditions of the Roman Catholic sect of Void Christianity. Citizens of the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth followed this religion.
Neo-Gnosticism: Neo-Gnosticism is a denomination of a Void Cult and the second largest denomination in the Void. It was born from the Loop Reformation, which calls for a reformation of the Gnostic denomination after the Gnostic cult is found to have abused its privileges and authority long before the advent of the Crisis of the 13th Eon. It functions similarly to Protestantism.
Void Branches of the Old Faiths: The Void Old Faiths, unofficially known as the Void Branches of the Old Faiths, is the name for the multi-religion system so-called by the NSC as a result of the Void-Light War. It saw a persecution so heavy-handed and extensive that it makes the Soviet persecution of all faiths look downright sane. Followers of the Old Faiths disguised their religions by being recently-formed denominations of the Void Cult, though anything that involves ritual sacrifice or other "unsatisfactory" tenets (such as ritual cannibalism, ritual rape, and so on) were subject to persecution even more heavy-handed but also incredibly brutal. Even after the end of the NSC's persecution of the Old Faiths, any Old Faith that committed "rather unsatisfactory" tenets were condemned and subjected to persecution; any Old Faith that adapted by disavowing the "rather unsatisfactory" tenets were authorized to worship in public albeit under federal scrutiny. Among the Old Faiths were the Abrahamic Faiths, the Shinto Faith, and the Hindu Faith.
*Void Christianity: Void Christianity is less of a denomination of a Void Cult and more of a continuation of Christianity post-Celestial Sundering. It was created after Novayans who follow Christianity were forced to worship the Worm-in-Waiting; forced conversions to the Cult of the Loop increased after the Void-Light War that caused anti-Christian sentiments in the NSC. To avoid being persecuted by the NSC and due to its extensive, heavy-handed efforts to suppress Christianity, many Christians disguised their faith by being newly-formed denominations of the Cult of the Loop. After the Revolt of Eon-U 5SB144 Borealis Norsoutha III, the 115,115th Grand Marshal of the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth and a Void Christian-Roman Catholic by birth prior to his memories altered or erased at age 5 and reconstituted at age 23 during the disastrous Norsoutha-Tomoshima family reunion, initially started the abolition of the anti-Old Faiths persecution policies when he was 18 years old; Grand Marshal Daniel Norsoutha, alongside the Gang of Four (led by Schmidt) and the Armeeverband "Freies Novaya" (led by Wilhelm Brandt) put an end to the infamous policies five years later.
===Denominations===
Faith 	Alternate name 	Tenets	Views on gender	Religious attitude	Clerical tradition	Head of Faith
Gnosticism 	Gnosticisimos Aagiokratia 	
*Adaptive
*Communion
*Monasticism	Equal 	Pluralist 	Spiritual 	Theocratic
Orthodoxy 	Orthodoxitos Aagiokratia 	
*The Pentarchy
*Communion
*Monasticism	Equal 	Pluralist 	Theocratic 	Spiritual
Neo-Gnosticism	Neo-Gnosticisimos Aagiokratia	
*Aniconism
*Literalism
*Pursuit of Power	Equal 	Pluralist 	Lay Clergy 	Temporal
Oeslitism 	Oeslite Aagiokratia 	
*Citizenship Through Service
*Religious Law
*Adaptive	Equal 	Pluralist 	Lay Clergy 	Spiritual
Helastism 	Helastiasimos Aagiokratia 	
*Literalism
*Religious Law
*Adaptive	Equal 	Pluralist 	Theocratic 	Temporal
Haenstakism 	Haeenstakisimos Aagiokratia 	
*Polyamory
*Carnal Exaltations
*Hedonism
*Religious Law	Male Dominated 	Pluralist 	Theocratic 	None
Jenstikism 	Jenstikisimos Aagiokratia 	
*Struggle and Submission
*Adaptive
*Religious Law	Male Dominated 	Pluralist 	Theocratic 	Spiritual
Maechinakism 	Maechinakisimos Aagiokratia 	
*Monasticism
*Vows of Poverty
*Pacifism	Equal 	Pluralist 	Law Clergy 	None
Tasianism 	Tasianisimos Aagiokratia 	
*Warmonger
*Citizenship through Service
*Adaptive
*Unrelenting Faith	Equal 	Pluralist 	Theocratic 	Temporal
===Planet/Sector-based sub-denominations===
Faith 	Elements from Denominations 	Creed 	Head of Faith 	Tenets	Main doctrines	Marital doctrines	Crime doctrines	Clerical doctrines	Description
Novayanas Aagiokratia 	Gnostikisimos, Orthodoitos, Nea Gnostikisimos, Void Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism), Shintoism	Novayan-Siggean Creed	Ecumenical Potentarchate of Novaya 	
*Ecclesiarchy
*Citizenship Through Service
*Clerical Succession
*Monasticism
*Adaptive	
*Views on gender: Equal
*Religious attitude: Pluralorighteous
*Clerical tradition: Theocratic
*Head of Faith: Spiritual	
*Marriage type: Monogamous/Polygamous
*Divorce: Must be approved
*Bastardry: Legitimization
*Consanguinity: Avunculate marriage	
*Same-sex relations: Shunned
*Male adultery: Shunned
*Female adultery: Shunned
*Kinslaying: Familial is Criminal
*Deviancy: Shunned
*Slavery: No slavery
*Magic: Magic accepted	
*Clerical wealth: Encouraged
*Clerical function: Alms and Pacification
*Clerical gender: Either
*Clerical marriage: Allowed
*Clerical appointment: Spiritual, for Life
*Coronation: Formal coronations	The Novayanas Aagiokratia - or "Imperial Novayanity", and officially and actually known as the Novayan Cult System and the Novayan Religious Faith System - is the term for the Novaya system's denomination. It was first created after the end of the Void-Light War, which replaced several Old Faith denominations, especially those of Christianity. Despite the fact it had replaced Christianity, the Novayanas Aagiokratia's conclaves adopted the organizational structures of the various Christian churches (especially the Eastern Orthodox and Nicene Chalcedonian churches) and their practices (including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and Nicene Chalcedonian practices).
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The Novayanas Aagiokratia's name has been inspired by the Aversarinas Aagiokratia, the religious system of the Aversarinas Aautokrata.
Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia	Void Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Nicene Chalcedonism), Orthodoxitos, Gnostikisimos 	Novayan-Siggean Creed	High Priesthood of Nova Constantinople	
*Ecclesiarchy
*Citizenship Through Service
*Clerical Succession
*Monasticism
*Unrelenting Faith	
*Views on gender: Equal
*Religious attitude: Pluralorighteous
*Clerical tradition: Theocratic
*Head of Faith: Spiritual	
*Marriage type: Monogamous/Polygamous
*Divorce: Must be approved
*Bastardry: Legitimization
*Consanguinity: Avunculate marriage	
*Same-sex relations: Shunned
*Male adultery: Shunned
*Female adultery: Shunned
*Kinslaying: Familial is Criminal
*Deviancy: Shunned
*Slavery: No slavery
*Magic: Magic accepted	
*Clerical wealth: Encouraged
*Clerical function: Alms and Pacification
*Clerical gender: Either
*Clerical marriage: Allowed
*Clerical appointment: Spiritual, for Life
*Coronation: Formal coronations	The Nova Constantinople Aagiokratia - or "Imperial Nova Constantinople" or Siggenas Aagiokratia, and officially known as the Siggean Cult System and the Siggean Religious Faith System - is the term for the Sigge system's denomination. It was first created after the end of the Void-Light War, which replaced several Old Faith denominations, especially those of Christianity. Despite the fact it had replaced Christianity, the Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia's conclaves adopted the organizational structures of the various Christian churches (especially the Eastern Orthodox and Nicene Chalcedonian churches) and their practices (including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and Nicene Chalcedonian practices).
===Other denominations===
Faith 	Tenets	Views on gender	Religious attitude	Clerical tradition	Head of Faith	Description
Borealisople Aagiokratia	
*Adaptive
*Citizenship through Service
*Esotericism	Equal 	Pluralist 	Lay Clergy 	None 	The Borealisople Aagiokratia stretches back the aftermath of Grand Marshal Borealis III's military adventures outside the Void, where a few or couple of medieval fantasy nations, seeing his actions, immediately formed a faith revolving around the Grand Marshal himself because they see him as the physical reincarnation or appearance of the Worm-in-Waiting. The Borealis Aagiokratians' views were shattered when they learned of his true origins upon arriving at Japan, Earth-ANIME, after evacuating from their homeworld which became a major battleground between the NSC and the One Sith; despite this, they quickly rallied behind the reborn Borealis III in the ensuing war for Earth and against the Sith Godom Empire, still seeing him as someone to look up to.
After the end of the One Sith War, Grand Marshal Borealis III becomes absolutely horrified when he learned of an actual faith centered around him, leading to him personally asking the Borealis Aagiokratians to cease their hero-worship and hero-deification of him, seeing it as completely blasphemous and, in his eyes, heretical. Plans were made to disband the faith by the clergy when Lord Admiral Borealis I approached and notified the Grand Marshal of plans by Admiral Buzz Sullivan of the United Nations' Military Staff Committee and Office for Outer Space Affairs (also known as the United Nations Space Administration) to establish two new colonies, one on Luna and the other on Venus.
Hearing this, the Borealis Aagiokratians volunteered to form the two colonies. Even though they are from the few medieval fantasy nations that evacuated to Earth-ANIME and had no knowledge on modern science, they were persistent, even making it clear that they are willing to learn everything from the interplanetary, futuristic and parafuturistic societies at the expense and cost of their cultures. On April 6, the two colonies, both named Borealisople after the Grand Marshal himself, were fully established and populated by Borealis Aagiokratians, whose faith has been renamed to Borealisople Aagiokratia.
"Close enough," mutter a still-unamused Grand Marshal Borealis III.
==List of titles==
This contains a list of titles used in the conclave hierarchy of the Cult of the Loop.
*Arch-Magister/Grand Magister/Potentate/Patriarch/Matriarch
*High Chief Magister
*High Magister
*Chief Magister
*Magister
*Deputy Magister
*Thaumaturgus augustus/Thaumaturga augusta
*Thaumaturgus caesar/Thaumaturga caesarina
*Thaumaturgus legatus/Thaumaturga legata
*Thaumaturgus/Thaumaturga
*Acolyte
*Initiate
===Specialized titles===
This list contains a number of specialized ranks.
*Arcane occult thaumaturge (Thaumaturgus occultus arcani)
*Void occult thaumaturge (Thaumaturgus occultus inanis)
*Sun occult thaumaturge (Thaumaturgus occultus soli)
*Fel occult thaumaturge (Thaumaturgus occultus feli)
===Miscellaneous titles===
*Thaumaturgus occultus arcanus/Thaumaturga occulta arcana - highest rank in the Loop conclaves just below Magister and its superior ranks; serves as an agent or advisor for high-ranking officials
==Rites and practices==
The rites and practices were similar to those of the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Missionary and conclave activities matches those of Christian missionary and church activities.
==Sainthood==
In the Cult of the Loop, a saint may refer to those who were pious or all who follow their denominations. In several Loop Cultist denominations especially the Gnostikisimos Aagiokratia, Orthodoxitos Aagiokratia, Novayanas Aagiokratia and Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia, a saint were individuals who were beatified for their virtues, high piety or contributions to society or civilization as a whole. To be a saint it requires those to practice what they believed in and explain the reasons why they do this.
Unlike Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Nicene Chalcedonian sainthoods, Loop Cultist sainthood de-beatified those whose evilness were hidden under a veneer of goodness. Those who hid their evilness cunningly and manipulatively were stripped of all their honors and their sainthood before being put to trial. There are some rare cases where such wicked saints manipulated everything to ensure their evilness won't be revealed until years, decades or even millennia later; such cases woke up the much greater Cult of the Loop to the point an all-out investigation revealed such corruption, graft and evilness, leading to Cult of the Loop-majority, -minority and other nations to hunt the wicked saints. Not even death can save the wicked saints from being resurrected by the Worm-in-Waiting.
There are some cases where several Loop Cultist theocracies beatified those who were wicked in their ways. While unpopular this gave rise to a wicked and twisted form of sainthood. This form of sainthood require the following: any of the great sins (lust, gluttony, greed, slothfulness, wrath, envy, pride, impatience, deceit, dishonesty, sadism, callousness), being bad priests, having vices (hedonism, cynicism, cruelty, cannibalism, bloodthirstiness, being a drunkard, being excommunicated), any malevolent traits (being a killer, being a kinslayer of any or all sorts, being a murderer, being a rapist, being a cannibal, cruel, callous, sadistic, vengeful), or other traits (arrogance, incestuous, ambitious (especially those who negatively wanted), or just being plain bad).
===Novayanas-Nova Konstantinopolis sainthood system===
The Novayanas Aagiokratia and the Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia, known for their differences ever since the Novaya-Nova Constantinople schism and working together despite such differences, cooperated on working out a sainthood system which was vastly different from and based on the Catholic, Chalcedonian and Orthodox sainthood systems. The Novayanas-Nova Konstantinopolis sainthood system stated that in order for those to be a saint one must obtain the following merits: follow at least one or several of the holy virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, humility, compassion), benevolent traits (justness, kindness, patience, compassion, charity), pious traits (chastity, humility, contentment, is a theologian, celibate, zealous), or high piety. Other traits (such as loyalty, bravery or courage, being forgiving, honesty, self-sacrificing, ambitious (so long as it is restrained and more focused towards the common good of all), being willing to help, reasonable) may also count, but any of the four main merits must be met.
The Novayanas-Nova Konstantinopolis sainthood system was considered to be a highly-advanced, reworked version of the ones used by several Loop Cultist and Christian faiths. Despite the fact it is working it had come under fire from the more conservative, fundamentalist, fundamentalo-righteous and reactionary elements of the Cult of the Loop, who considered the sainthood system to be corrupt and its beatification of non-Loop Cultists to be unacceptable despite the both Novayanas Aagiokratian and Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratian conclaves perform different beatification rites for those of great merits and of different religions. Calls were made to shut down the sainthood system and also the two aagiokratiae orbis, before said elements' calls were rejected by the high-ranking leaderships in the various Loop Cultist faiths and institutions.
Also like Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Chalcedonian churches and other Loop Cultist conclaves, the veneration of saints is common within the Novayanas and Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia, but there was a reason why such veneration is tolerated. Outside the two aagiokratiae orbis, the veneration of saints may mean regarding the saints with reverence and respect; inside the two aagiokratiae orbis, saint veneration not just meant "to regard with reverence and respect" but also "to emulate the saints and their virtues, piety, characters and traits". Due to this, saint veneration means that both Novayanas Aagiokratians and Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratians should emulate their saints. The saints who lived in monasteries were treated not as gods but as teachers for those who wish to emulate them in their services to their gods (whether the Worm or otherwise).
==Credits, trivia and notes==
*Godherja: The Dying World is a dark fantasy mod developed by ThePinkPanzer for Crusader Kings III, the sequel to Crusader Kings I and Crusader Kings II, developed by Paradox Development Studio. The name Aagiokratia, meaning 'Faith' in the Aversarian language, came from Aversarinas Aagiokratia (Humanity's Faith), a religion from the mod.
*Despite its name, several groups of the Cult of the Loop had a standardized liturgy, scriptures and strict, formal conclave hierarchy similar to organized religions; its major organizational influence came from both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, which would explain the various. However, it is not so different from other religions due to it composed of various sects or rites.
**In-universe, the Cult of the Loop is a minor religion in the Void especially in the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth; however, after the end of the Void-Light War and as a result of the prosecutions resulted from paranoia wrought about by the supposed belief that the Armies of the Light had "awakened" every followers of the Old Faiths (in reality, almost every followers of the Old Faiths fought against the Armies of the Light), the Cult of the Loop became the most predominant religion in Novaya as declared by the Grand Marshal's newly-passed Declaration of the New Faith. The Cult of the Loop was reorganized and restructured secretly based on the functions of the disbanded Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Nicene Chalcedonian Church, Protestant churches and numerous others.
*The various Cult of the Loop's faiths were patterned after real-life and sometimes fictional religions. Aagiokratia, Aversarian for "Faith", came from the Aversarinas Aagiokratia (Aversarian: Humanity's Faith).
**The following Cult of the Loop faiths that were based on real life religions, both practices and rites and organizations albeit with similar or different focuses, were:
***Cult of the Worm (Black Empire only): Christianity, Hellenism (Roman imperial cult), Zoroastrianism, Paganism
***Cult of the Loop (post-Great Persecution of the Old Faiths): Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism), Paganism
***Gnostikisimos Aagiokratia: Roman Catholicism
***Orthodoxitos Aagiokratia: Eastern Orthodoxy
***Reformitos Aagiokratia: Reformed Christianity
***Nea Gnostikisimos Aagiokratia: Protestantism
***Nicene Aagiokratia: Chalcedonian Christianity
***Novayanas Aagiokratia: Roman Catholicism (practices and rites), Eastern Orthodoxy (organization)
***Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia: Eastern Orthodoxy (practices and rites), Roman Catholicism (organization)
***Amaterasu Aagiokratia: Shintoism (focus: Amaterasu Omikami, goddess of the sun)
***Quetzalcoatl Aagiokratia: Aztec religion (focus: Quetzalcoatl, goddess of air and wisdom)
***Chang'e Aagiokratia: Taoism (focus: Chang'e, goddess of the moon)
***Sagittarius Aagiokratia: Greco-Roman Hellenism (focus: Sagittarius, goddess of archery, healing, visions and knowledge)
***Persephone Aagiokratia: Greco-Roman Hellenism (focus: Persephone, goddess of of spring, the dead, destruction, grain, and nature and the underworld)
***Baldr Aagiokratia: Germanic Norse paganism (focus: Baldr, goddess of light, wisdom and courage)
***Valaderis Aagiokratia: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (focus: veneration of saints especially Lord Valaderis, saint of chivalry, honor, military justice, just wars, bravery, compassion and benevolence during wars)
**The following Cult of the Loop faiths that were based on fictional religions, both practices and rites and organizations albeit with similar or different focuses, were:
***Novayanas Aagiokratia: Nicene Chalcedonianism (from: When The World Stopped Making Sense; practices and rites and organization)
***Nova Konstantinopolis Aagiokratia: Roman Aquileianism (from: When The World Stopped Making Sense; practices and rites and organization)
***Nicene Aagiokratia: Nicene Chalcedonianism (from: When The World Stopped Making Sense)
***Valaderis Aagiokratia: Cult of Saints (from: After the End: A Post-Apocalyptic America)
***Eastern Drakanorix Aagiokratia/Asiatic Drakanorix Aagiokratia: Drakanorix Aagiokratia (focus: dragons in eastern cultures; from: Godherja: The Dying World)