Overview

The Cult of Archangels is a religious movement originating on Planet Crete and having its followers all over the Corsair space. Unlike many other faiths of Sirius, the Cult is not a unified religion but rather a set of beliefs that many Corsairs and followers of the Archangels consider a major part of their cultural heritage. Also unlike other Sirian faiths, the Cult's belief is polytheistic in nature and, according to some sociologists, closely related to ancient polytheistic religions of Earth's Greece, Rome and India.

The origin of the Cult of Archangels is unclear. It is suspected that this religious movement started in an almost completely isolated community on Crete. The fact is, however, despite the rather lacklustre approach towards religion among the Corsairs, the Cult's faith managed to spread throughout the Corsair controlled space, the southern Omicrons and, albeit sparsely, the Houses as well.

This might be because of the limited rituals and dogmas involved in its practices as well as almost universal approach towards faith which relies heavily on the follower's own interpretations of the holy texts and passages. Indeed, many Corsairs following the Cult treat the deities as little more than a foundation for spiritual courage and their mythology to be simply symbollic. The Cult is not in any way structured and in many places on Crete one can find various branches and orders with varying levels of devotion to the Cult's teachings.

Mythology

Much like other parts of the Cult's belief, the mythology is not strictly agreed upon. However certain aspects of it are similar across all belief groups. According to the Monastery mythology, the Archangels were deities descended upon Crete to guide the Corsairs in their initial settlement efforts. Some religious text say the Archangels will return again in the time of need.

The Archangels themselves are three religious deities represented as female angels. Each of them patrons a specific social group within the Corsair society and a particular region of space. Additionally, in cases of groups which adopt the Hedron morality model, each represents two of the Hedron's aspects.

Historically however, those interpretations might have been different. Indeed certain old sources collected by the Alexandrians suggest that original belief of the Cult didn't at all involve Archangels and instead the deities assumed other forms. One of the earliest sculptures dedicated to the Cult indeed represent the deities as what is generally interpreted as a Cleric, Warrior and Thief. Other Corsair historians suggest the earliest perception of the deities was influenced by the nomad Artifacts found in abundance on Crete.


Hedron

The Hedron is a special part of the Cult's morality model in that it represents six of the universal moral values which should be respected by every member of the Corsair society. The name "Hedron" itself comes from one of the first representations of this model, a small sculpture on display in one of the temples in the equatorial city Cayambe. That sculpture has the appearance of a cube tipped on one of it's vertices and names of the Hedron's aspects written near each of the vertices in Latin, Greek and Spanish.




Branches

As noted previously, the Cult in general is a mostly individualist movement, however over the course of centuries several specific branches within it started to crystallise and thrive. The organised branches exist mostly in the northern Crete, on the continent of Attica.