There is only one major religion in Deshret - the Church of the Nine, governed by Sepulchre.

The main doctrine of the Church of the Nine is that technology must be kept under strict control. Rampant misuse of technology (such as free-thinking machines, towers of light reaching the clouds, and attempts at reaching beyond the boundaries of the soul) led to the Burning that destroyed the prior world, after all.

Faithful individuals might adopt one of the nine Saints as examples, wear their relevant sigils or Seals, confess sins regularly to their priests, avoid cyberware, and be sure to prepare for splintering.

If you want more detail, read on!

SIN#

Sin and heresy in the Church of the Nine do not resemble Judeo-Christian norms. Sepulchre does not preach about things like sexuality or relationships. Instead, sin looks like yearning for the damned and dangerous world above or the corruptive technology of the past. This is why the Church disapproves of cyberware: the sins of the ancient world were caused by the fusion of man and machine, after all.

There is also a lesser focus on making peace and avoiding feuds, as part of upholding a healthy community. Deshret survives only through complex networks of interdependence, and so the priesthood encourages the people to let go of grievances.

SPLINTERING#

Sepulchre was created by Saint Marrow, also known as the Prophet. Saint Marrow was the leader of the Founders who first established Deshret. His death and miraculous resurrection in the first year after the Founding set the template for Sepulchre's most holy mystery: splintering, the revival of the dead. Through holy ritual, the clergy can preserve a shard of your soul and guide it back into a re-created body. But as all human souls are inherently flawed, something is always lost in the transition. Only Saint Marrow was perfect enough to return unchanged.

See the Splintering page for more detail on this process.

AFTERLIFE#

The afterlife isn't eternal bliss versus eternal torture. It's more you're either saved, or erased from existence.

Since Sepulchre explain the Hum as part of Saint Marrow, if you're one of the faithful, your 'soul' exists as part of that mass along with him. Your presence in the Hum and is what allows you to be cloned back into a body and come back from death.

Continued existence is salvation, and that IS 'heaven' - while the oblivion of dying without splintering/awakening is 'hell'. The surface and its damned, doomed inhabitants are often pointed at as a cautionary example of how terrible life and death look for the unfaithful.

SAINTS#

The church venerates the nine Founders of Deshret as Saints. Each of the Saints has their own sect within the church, which determines how the clergy following that saint practice. Aesthetics-wise, these might bear some comparisons to real-world monasticism: so for example Marrow's order is very Orthodox, Vael's order is a hospitaller order, Ferro's is working monasticism, Cinder's are scholars, Vesper is eremitic, Severin martial, Wren would be mendicant, etc.

Laypeople also tend to adopt their own Saints to guide their behavior, and both clergy and laypeople alike might wear the Seal associated with their Saint in clothing or as a tattoo. The finest of these tattoos are administered by Sepulchre directly, though other artists are also permitted to depict them. Only the classic eight seals exist in official canon and their basic form is sacrosanct, though it is not uncommon to perhaps contextualize them with differences in location, decorative borders, etc.

CLERICAL DUTIES#

While the Inquisitors of Sepulchre root out heresy, the clergy handle the daily duties of the church. These include overseeing education, tattooing the Seals of the Saints, taking confessions, offering blessings, general community building and shepherding the flock. Other duties might depend on the priest and their sect - for example, charity in some cases, perhaps nursing for those who follow Vael, etc.

OTHER RELIGIONS#

No other religion has a meaningful foothold in Deshret.

It isn't necessarily heresy to try and preach about other religions, but it isn't looked on positively. Of course people know that other religions existed and that this isn't humanity's first rodeo, but Sepulchre wouldn't want all the exact details to distract people or lead them astray. In essence, people trying to talk about other or older faiths can expect to get weird reactions... and potentially attention, because people may end up asking why you care so much.

FAQ#

Are the Saints seen as divine? Is Marrow?

Marrow is the only fundamentally divine entity in the Church of the Ninefold. The Saints are more like exemplars on how to live one's life, and holy but not deified figures. People pray to their favored Saint, but they aren't expecting some kind of direct intervention in their lives out of it. At most, if something DID happen, it would be seen as Marrow's grace working through the Saints (i.e., a form of intercession.)