Imperial Church of Psology

The **Imperial Church of Psology**, more commonly known as the **Church of True Lore**, is the official state church of the Holy Psdonia Empire, which maintains and promotes the worship of the True Lore as the one, true version of Lore. It is a massive organization that guides the worship of millions of people on many worlds and across great divides of distance, language, and culture. The foundation of the church is the belief in and worship of the Ps as a divine being, the power of the True Lore to intercede in matters spiritual and temporal, propel one's self into a state of change, reaching the threshold of divinity and obtain true perfection. The Church also administers and spreads the True Lore throughout the territory of the empire.

## The Imperial Dogma

The Imperial Dogma is the body of doctrines and articles of faith which is preached across the empire. It is the divine word of the God-King as related by his servants, and it forms the core of belief shared by every devotee across the length and breadth of Psdonia regardless of the form of worship practiced on the world of their birth.

In practice, the Imperial Dogma operates on several different levels. Cardinals and their fellow holy men debate endlessly the minutiae of the words of the teachings. Arguments about the exact meaning of a particular phrase might rage for months, even years, causing deep bitter schisms among the various factions as men decry one another as benighted fools, dangerous reformers, or even corrupt heretics who defy the holy words of the faith.

Indeed, there have been only a few occasions when outright violence has erupted between factions holding opposing views on such interpretations. Everyday, the synods disseminate reams of pronouncements and clarifications, of learned texts and annotations of existing ones. The clergy are expected to preach such tracts to those below them, thus propagating the true word across the empire. In practice, no one man can be conversant in such a vast body of doctrine, and huge armies of scholars and their servants are employed to identify the relevant passages for their masters and to file the remainder away in vast archives.

### Tenets of Faith

The Imperial Dogma is a conglomeration of native religious practices, the modifications to those practices imposed by the missionaries, and the myriad pronouncements passed down from the church's upper echelons. As such, practices adhered to on one world may be held as abhorrent on another, depending on its own combination of native, modified and imported belief. The church tolerates a vast range of practices and beliefs, but there are certain tenets of faith which remain unchanged from one end of the empire to the other. At the core of the Imperial Dogma is the belief that once can achieve perfection.

So long as these essential tenets are adhered to, the prevalent faith on any given world can exhibit staggering diversity. Other notions is the promise of power, though for the vast majority, that place is at the bottom, following unquestioningly the orders and duties passed down by those higher up.

## Sects and Splinter Groups

The Church and its subordinate sectors and their governing cardinals and deacons are only a part of the Church's presence within each sector. There are many other layers of leadership, missions and cults stretching all the way down to the average worshipper. The clergy and the variety of the worlds and cultures on which they thrive have given rise to a myriad of cults and variances on the orthodox Imperial Dogma. The following is a listing of just a fraction of known sects and groups:

### Aurchonite Sect

Formed by the former commewnist, Father Tommy when he converted to the True Lore. Isolated in a remote corner of the candy jungles of the Gummy Bear Wiki, the tenets of the sect promote modesty and hard work. Many of its members seem to embrace their seclusion from the rest of society, with most of them never venturing far from the community of Aurchonite, which serves as both the sect's headquarters and residence.

### Sicercia Sisterhood

An all-female sect of the True Lore, the sect came out of a collective of female missionaries in Sicercia that received a vision of Lady MasterXera's victory over the vile forces of the Dark Ps during their invasion of Sicercia. Following the aftermath and Sicercia's annexation into the Holy Psdonia Empire, Lady MasterXera was hailed a hero and declared a living saint, gaining a large cult following.

### Nihis Sect

On the rise among the populace of West Psdonia, the Nihis Sect practice self flagellation and seek to rectify their imperfections through painful constrictions. The sect is reviled by other sects and cults, viewing them as sadists masking their deviant acts under the shroud of religion.

### Psei'ti Sect

A small sect of True Lore followers operating on the island of Psei'ti in the Western Ocean, the members of this sect practice a ritual of rejuvenation and renewal.

### Cult of the Sky-Masters

Referred by the Oerlan natives as the Kult of the Sky-Masters, the superstitious shamans of the mountain tribes teach that the God-King and his servants are the "Sky-Masters"; naughty children must keep their eyes averted from the heavens, lest they anger them with their impudence.

### Delish Sect

Nestled in the rural farmlands of Minnate, the Delish are an agrarian-based sect made up of farmers, a simple folk that follow the tenets of faith and unity. They take great pride in their bountiful harvests, growing and cultivating nature's bounty to perfection.

### Ocelotari Fellowship

One of the newest religious groups to emerge after the Psdonian annexation. Formed by a young Pera missionary sent into the jungles of the Woodblockian Empire in order to facilitate the natives incorporation into the Holy Psdonia Empire. Taking in by their reverence of the local ocelot population, she tailored the tenets of the True Lore, the best she could to fit in the native culture, existing religion, and cultural practices. A small but rapidly growing sect has emerged, one that seeks to create the perfect avatar...the perfect ocelot.

### Circle of Aurora

A mysterious religious sect, led by the being known as Aurora. Followers of the Circle traveled on pilgrimages to the shrines in every part of the empire. It grew out of popular beliefs regarding the sites, involving telepathic and other, possibly mental-based powers. While the sect appeared benign, rumors linked the shrines to blood sacrifices and strange heathen rites. They believed that their practices encouraged telepathic powers in their members.

### Juturine Sect

A radical offshoot of the church, the Juturine Sect also called the Juturineists, adhere to the belief of surrendering of body and soul to the Spectral Ps was key to spiritual cleanliness and the gateway to true happiness. They are responsible for the sudden surge of abomination activity.

### Choir

An elite delegation of the Church, they seek ascension through experimentation and insight gained from the left behind relics of Old Psdonia. Many of the members consist of scholars, doctors, tomb prospectors and clerics.

### Selanite Sect

Originally a small gene cult, the Selanites were brought before the Church and formally adopted into the fold, granting them full status as a official sect. Blending their previous beliefs with the teachings of the True Lore, the Selanites saw the perfection of advanced genetic engineering techniques as a necessary component of their faith.

### Valhian Sect

Created around the teachings of the famed True Lore missionary, Valhi Tulman. The Valhian Sect formed a body of doctrine that codified and promoted the spirit and culture that their founder wished for Psdonia. A turn of fate would see the missionary arrive on the shores of the Western Continent, where he journeyed through and preached to all that would listen. The sect has found major footholds in many cities of Minnate. The sect emphasized self-reliance, loyalty, duty, patience, awareness, self-sacrifice and, above all, endurance for the promise of a better tomorrow.

### Gloomdar Cult

Sinister and mysterious, the Gloomdar cult has long rumored to haunt the northern hills of the Free Western State of the Woodblockian Empire. The original cultists were believed to be descendants of True Lore missionaries left on the wrong side of the Perlin Wall after its construction. Their isolation and paranoia over being discovered have twisted them into a xenophobic cult that shuns all forms of contact with outsiders, viewing them as impure.

### Carnivalia Sect

A secretive, wandering sect that hides among the travelling circuses and guilds of itinerant entertainers. They wish to perfect their art, putting on plays and shows to inspire others and push themselves to preform great acts of joy, wonder, sorrow and horror to maximize the crowd's sensations.

### Diviner Sect

A mystical form of True Lore, and is one of the smallest sects of the Church. The Diviner Sect have held the belief in the art of divination through the mass consumption of mind-altering teas and other hallucinogenic substances as a means to see true sight and perceive what they claim to be a glimpse of true perfection.

### Astral Seekers

Formed in the thick jungles in the Western Psdonian state of Woodblockian Empire, these cultists cultivate, worship and consume a strain of pungent tropical fruit. Firmly believing in its supposed abilities, they aspire on leaving material things behind, as the physical world is utterly corrupt and imperfect, and concentrating on reaching astral planes of existence.

### Darkgoni Order

Calling themselves the Devout Eaters, the members of this group follow their founder's teachings, after he was exposed to a savage tribe of the Western Islands that worshipped an entity called Karou, a "holy being" renowned for its insatiable appetites for flesh. According to local myths, the creature judged its servants by their martial strength, those of the Order meet in secret to undertake ritual melees. If the combat resulted in a death, as it should per the tradition of the Order, all of those present would partake in eating the corpse of the fallen, as a means to enhance themselves and lengthen their lifespans.

### Cypher Cult

The Cypher Cult are among the strangest and most unfathomable, even to their peers. Scholars by nature, obsessed with understanding the true nature of all things, they strive to use a set of formula and processes to grant them a glimpse of what they believe to be the multiverse's perfection and above all, in keeping their own secrets.

### Cult of Vexyo

An obscure sect founded by the eccentric preacher Vex who led his followers from the homelands and settled on a small moon where they established a colony, cultivating life on the moon's surface. Almost every aspect of life is controlled by faith, any divergence from the proper guidelines faces immediate disciplinary action.

### Bakhmukha

A cult of insane architects, the Bakhmukha are one of the many similar groups scattered across the Western Islands. Their rituals are infinitely complex, and they built maze-like temple compounds and bizarre pseudo-machines to further serve their ends.

### Pzilite Sect

Commonly found among the Western Islands, the missionaries whom were the founders of the Pzilite Sect studied the indigenous myths and legends, finding mythological overlaps with certain critical aspects of the Imperial Dogma, subverting them for the True Lore. Their followers revere the Pszillas as the adopted grandchildren of the sea, created as a perfect means to protect their people, in exchange the sect aid in nurturing and protecting their defenseless young.

### Children of Qamballah

The Children of Qamballah revere Qamballah, a True Lore missionary. It is said that Qamballah arrived on the remote Hassano Island. She promised to return the industry to the poverty-stricken region and, through charisma and employment opportunities after reopening the island's mines, came to be revered by the natives of the island as their savior. She eventually is said to have ascended beyond mortality and become a living force of the True Lore that watches over the island.

### Mali Sect

A small sect that believes that the Western Island goddess, Mali is an aspect of the True Lore. Mali was an especially good choice for the Imperial Church to appropriate, since her traditional followers regard her as a benign goddess of fertility and renewal. The promise of the Mali Sect is one of transformation and rebirth.

### Sennegami

A dangerous and highly organized cult whose origins and activities go back according to some sources to the founding of the Gualia Republic. Formed originally as a rebellion by a Aurchon Transcendist conspiring to overthrow the Gualian government, which was defeated. Still in thrall of their dead master, they have been repeatedly smashed time and again only to appear again later.

### Cognihaan

Taking the form of an academy, run by its founder, Martin Gates. Their aim was to develop by means psychic, eugenic and noetic, a generation of individuals who would work to further the aims of Psdonia. Every graduate of the Cognihaan was both highly intelligent and extremely dangerous.

### Pale Brethren

After the fall of New Sezonia, the scientists and soldiers stationed at Shangri-Muto, previously known as Dino Island were overcome by madness, there arose a few who saw through their plight and were saved by what they claim to be a servant of the True Lore. Their savoir bestowed upon them boons of power, slowly they changed now they are nothing more but a degenerate congregation of twisted horrors and psychic abominations.

### True Consciousness Communion

Formerly a struggling volunteer-based, humanitarian organization, the Church in its wisdom aided in its recovery, reorganizing and reshaping it as a part of the Church. The True Consciousness Communion offers several stress-elimination and self-development programs aimed at expanding minds and the aspiration for mankind to join in a single shared consciousness for all.

### Leschare Pilgrims

Drawn from like-minded humans and outcast Rockies converts to the True Lore from the Dragon Blood Islands, these pilgrims descended down into the earth, gathering to worship below. There they consecrate their bodies and spirits coagulated in order to become part of their great work.

### Faithful's True

Part of the now defunct chapter of the Imperial Church in the Amalgomate State, its members have been persecuted and the faith driven underground. Those who remain organize and practice secret rituals, preparing for the time when the faithless will face judgment and know the truth.

### Tathssian Commune

A key social, religious, and political force in the Psdonian colonies of the Outer Rim. An exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental refinement.

### Kanda Nhau

A vicious True Lore cult originating from the planet Ilia. Born from radical True Lore missionaries, they believe that an eternity of glory will await them if they die for the will of the faith.

### Prophets of the True Path

Followers of the Truth Path religion that arose on the planet Dacarro. They were founded by a renegade cardinal, Agrus Thar, and hence can be considered a splinter-faction of the church.

### Gloom Walkers of Grimshale

Settled on the grim and shadowy world of Grimshale. The sect's founders came to the conclusion that to gain true insight and achieve perfection, one must rid themselves of eyesight and so by consuming toxic fungi, they rendered themselves blind and over time have completely adapted to their surroundings.

### Libehidian Sect

A deviant and seductive sect, widely reviled and condemned even by the most liberal members of the Church. The Libehibian Sect adhere to the radical belief that by eroding the social trappings that bind them that they can free themselves. Members of the sect do so by indulging in vices and breaking down moral taboos.

### Joyous Blessed

A growing sect that arose on one of the Psdonian colonies in the Outer Rim, the Joyous Blessed actively promotes the belief that the True Lore is the means of ultimate happiness. They hold that it is their duty to seek to be as contented as possible with their lives, ever striving towards being at perfect harmony with their place.

### Pure Body Sect

Followers of this sect stem from the belief that the most pure form in the universe is that of one's unaltered body, and to defile it by removing pure flesh, grafting on artificial limbs, the extensive use of cybernetics and other mechanical implants is nothing short of blasphemy.