Fiction:Draconid Imperium/Religion

The Cult of Drakon Is the official state religion of the Draconis and to al esser extent their empire. The cult is a monastic order that claims the draconis were hand-crafted by their patron god and are his personal children. Outside of the draconid colonies the cult is more easily remembered by the cult's inquisition - considered the military arm working to maintain a religious status quo in the empire.

=Organisation=

Heirachy
At the very top is the archcleric, typically seen as one of the wisest figures in the Imperium and has rarely been under 400 years old. The archcleric is chosen by the council of cardinals for their deviotion and study of the book of divine teachings - an anciont tome said to be written by the cult's founder and its holy book. The archcleric's position, along with other ranks, is considered for life. Each cardinal is in charge of proceedings within an entire sector and are rarely seen in public. Below them are the master clerics who number in the hundreds of thousands (a colossal inflation since there are less than 100 cardinals in the entire Imperium) and are the chief religious figures of each draconid world.

Senior clerics are the heads of each temple on a single planet and are the ones who generally host mass. There is frequently more than one senior cleric found on each world who cooperate during mass and spiritual guidance. They are attended by countless clerics who often go out into the community to give guidance and support.

At the lowest rung of the cult's heirachy are thr apprentices. They study under the clerics, often doing so in a temple's library, and attend to a cleric under a master-student principle. Officialy they are still training and are often young aspirants seeking to help people and gain a deepr understanding of the faith.

Teachings and Practices
Practitioners promote the values explained in the book of divine teachings. These values include: Respecting family, respecting the world around you and enjoying the visual and performing arts. Many draconis keep a printed copy of these teachings somewhere in their home to examine at any time and would reserve a time in the week to read from them. Rather than direct worship or prayer to a supreme being, The cult and its practitioners honour Drakon by studying the Book of Divine Teachings or expressing themselves (they believe that by showing off their talent, they appease Drakon becuase they are showing him that his greatest gift to them is cherished). They frown on sacrifices and fundamentalism, prefering religion to be honoured by the aboved method. teachings are frequently passed down from broodmothers and therefore - due to the impressionable nature of their hatchlings - most have some basic belief in Drakon and his teachings.

Practitioners believe their afterlife is exclusive to them. In their interperetation it is the divine garden of their god and all of them are reborn there as their younger, more innocent selves. The cult states that only draconis who do not shun Drakon as their patron or do not dedicate their life to causing suffering and malice against their own kind are allowed entry. Most believe that those who do not gain entry to the garden spend eternity in the void. It is not stated as to whether or not this is another plane of reality, deep space, or interuniversal space. The only indication of it's nature is that the soul is said to drift in eternal emptiness, forever devoid of contact.

Because the cult only talks about the garden of drakon; most, if not all, accept it as just where the rest go. Since the cult is respective of other religions the void can be interpereted as the respective culture's version of hell and threatening to "send X to the void" is reserved for anyone the user thinks does not deserve to be in the accused's religion's good afterlife.

Inquisition
"Sinners fear the inquisition just as malcontents fear the judge" --Inquisition mantra

The inquisition is the side of the cult that many non-draconis would been exposed to. Because clerics state that the cult is draconis-exclusive, preachers in other communities are rare so most who do experience the cult see them in draconid colonies.

The inquisition's task is to keep religious tolerance at an acceptable level to prevent unrest and holy wars. They have been granted by the archcleric to do their task by any means necessary, including force-of-arms and invoulentary interrogation. Most draconis see the inquisition as a force for good and rarely see the side other races fear. Trained from a young age, inquisitors primiarily hunt for signs of intolerant fundamentalism and zealotry - factors that could put not just the community but the entire empire at risk - and will frequently use force, sometimes going as far as execution or kill-on-sight for targets who are too dangerous or too zealous to reconsider.

The imperium generally asks for tolerance towards other religions and other cultures. As a result religions or practices that promote a being's development or bring a community together in a positive way are generally left alone by the inquisition. Groups that force their beliefs on others, use underhanded methods or practice anything morally wrong (glorifying death, living sacrifice, demon worship etc.) are the inquisition's primary target, often removed through a leader's execution.

Inquisitors go only by their first name; discarding their family name when joining the order. The reason for this is that it is a representation that they are severing ties to the material in order to further dedicate their lives to the responsabilities of the inquisition. Despite this tradition inquisitors will take measures to remember their family name in order to keep a grasp on where they came from and their significance as a whole - however this is rarely the case with houseless or orphans who would rather forget or don't know the brood they came from. The inquisition is frought with controversy from their "end justifies the means" practices and shoot-on-sight habits to their questionable recruitment methods. However since they are as old as the empire (which as so far evaded serious religious unrest) there has been little reason not to trust that they know what they are doing.

Training and abilities
Initiates are chosen from young houseless, orphans and voulenteers who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep the empire stable. Training takes many decades and the student studies negotiation, exopsychology, exobiology, martial practices and history. The younger years are taken up with study and conditioning while later on they practice combat with a variety of standard and exotic weapons.

As they develop they exercise and consume a specially engineered diet in order to maintain a level of peak physical position as they develop, they also meditate (a practice brought in from ceratain protectorates) and study the book of divine teachings intensely. The inquisition is pleased with nothing less than a supreme killer and negotiator to root out even the most subtle signs of disruption and insurrection. When a student is old enough he or she is paired with an inquisitor in order to learn from the field.

All inquisitors have an improved level of control over. While this mastery might not be as advanced as the mastery found in other races such as the inquisitors are still noticeably different from other. An inquisitor's mastery is generally connected with the combining of mind and body and more advanced users will have a base level of ESP. Most inquisitors generally have impoved endurance, willpower and discipline along with the ability to read a creature's aura. Contrary to popular belief, inquisitors are not psycic - they cannot read minds or perform acts of telekenesis. They are also, essentialy, still mortal (although since development of these abilities is more intense than in other orders such as the Blood Dragons there are cases where inquisitors have lived for 900 years or more). Inquisitors benefit from a larger lifespan which can average at 800 years along with a high resistance to illness and formidable mental discipline.

Several months into the an agreement was made between  and  of the Divinarium to further certain inquisitors in certain elemntal techniques. These inquisitors would then pass their knowledge on to the rest of the order. However it would be months if not years before the effects of such training became widespread.

Equipment
Inquisitors are registered to use weapons and armour based on personal preferences. Often offered high-quality equipment the inquisition takes as much pride in the quality of its operatives' weapons as it does its quality of training. Typically inquisitors will remain discreet, performing most missions with armour and weapons concealed. Sometimes inquisitors will keep weapons and armour revealed (especially if the task requires large weapons to be used) not just for freedom of movement but also to create an imposing figure on the field of battle.

Whatever equipment they choose is marked uniquely with a hologram - a measure taken to avoid imposters taking their place. This imprint is unique to every inquisitor and the cult keeps a record of each marker held by each inquisitor. To prevent the number of unique markers running out, when an inquisitor is officially declared dead (something the order does not do unless they had absolute proof) their marker becomes available for use by another member of the order 50 years after the former's death. The specific manufacture of these holograms is kept a closely-guarded secret by the inquisition and anyone caught with this information is tried with treason.

Distribution
Officialy the inquisition is not under the responsability of the imperial government, kept in line by the cult, and as a result they have been known to journey outside of imperial space to carry out their operations. This is primarily because: Paranoia is another factor; the cult is forever worried that a subversive cult could build a power base in one region of the galaxy and spread chaos to the empire when it becomes so large that it can be considered unstoppable. While some races may be strongly against such interference, the outcome can often outweigh the risk.
 * A: The inquisition does not trust the competence of other governments to ensure safety of their citizens' well being
 * B: They believe their work benefits the galaxy as a whole

Inquisitorial Powers
Inquisitors are given a number of freedoms and privelages granted by their status and the Cult of Drakon to carry out their work effectively. these include:
 * Authority over most Talon navy officials
 * Complete freedom of movement
 * Right to declare anyone a heretic
 * Right to any weapon in the armoury
 * Legal immunity
 * All information on their operations is classified
 * Right to requesition prototype or experimental weapons
 * Exempt from government records
 * Right to interrogate anyone they suspect

If the inquisition finds a member is generally abusing their powers the cult has the right to suspend their inquisitor status on the spot (effectively making them regular citizens for the duration).

=Noteable members=

Cult of Drakon
Archcleric Torlonus - Head of the cult.

Inquisition
Arsac - High Inquisitor, Leader of the inquisition

Sarec - Inquisitor (zealot hunter), assaigned to Segmenum Crepusculum

=Miscellanious=

Quotes from other empires
=NAvigation=