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Chogia Faith

Overview

The Chogia Faith is the religion of the merchant Imudring, whose origins, though clouded by long stretches of time, seem to be some time in the late Expanse period. While there are some other adherents, the Imudring rarely recognize anyone not of their own ethnological group.

Origins

The origins of the Chogia Faith are one of the great unanswered mysteries. While there is some evidence to indicate that the Imudring themselves arose before the First Decline, those few surviving accounts indicate that they were not in fact united in religious beliefs.

During the First Decline, the Imudring, like all other interstellar groups and enterprises, were cut off from each other by vast gulfs that took sublight vessels decades and often centuries to cross. And yet, when the first reliable records were again made, the Chogia Faith was the common worship of all the Imudring encountered. How they managed to do this is something no scholar has been able to determine, and the Imudring have refused all requests.

The Religion

The Chogia Faith is a polytheistic faith, with a host of gods, goddesses, demons and other minor spirits. In particular, each tribe or clan of Imudring have their own group of totemic spirits, which are emblazoned on the sides of their ships, bases and outposts.

Common Chogia Gods

There are literally dozens of gods worshipped in the Chogia faith, and different groups may worship different ones. There are, however, some common gods:

Spirits and Demons

As has been mentioned, the Imudring also believe in a host of minor spirits, demons and demigods. Many of these serve as the totemic protector spirits of Imudring clans. There kinds are too numerous to be referenced here, but there are some major groups that are generally worshipped or reviled.

Priesthood

Each Imudring is given a basic education in the Chogia Faith, so that they may, if needed, perform the proper rites. There is, however, a professional priesthood. Each large ship has one High Priest as well as at least two Priests and assorted Acolytes. There is no ultimate leader. High Priests will have, at regular intervals, a Concave where they decide matters of theology. High Priests and Priests are chosen by the leaders of the Imudring clan.

Holy Books

There are three holy books of the Chogia Faith.

Other Adherents

The Chogia Faith, or at variants of it, have been worshipped by some groups since the early days of the Imperium Era. Usually these are isolated cults of little importance, and are universally ignored by the Imudring themselves, who believe these to be alien blasphemers.

Some groups actually claim to have the Razal-Imudra, and on many occasions scholars have rushed to get copies, only to find that they are based on known frauds, or most certainly new frauds. There are at least a dozen different Razal-Imudras, so variant that even if one were actually the real one, no honest scholar would claim to know.

[-‘^1^’ The Imudring refer to hop space as the Void.-]

References

  1. First Decline
  2. First Expanse
  3. Imudring
  1. First Decline
  2. First Expanse
  3. Imperium Edition Index
  4. Imudring
  5. Expanse