Cult of Mitra

The Cult of Mitra is a newly-formed religious organization, currently spread throughout Cheliax but concentrated in the Archduchy of Ravounel. The loosely-connected network of small groups revere the newly-manifested Goddess Mitra. Their monthly devotional rituals, held on the night of the full moon, tend to incorporate copious amounts of wine, ale, sex acts, and occasional sadomasochism.

Membership
The Cult makes it a point to recruit from all intelligent races and social classes, but in practice their members are overwhelmingly lower-class, overwhelmingly rural, and overwhelmingly human. That's not to say the Cult is entirely racially homogeneous - the cult's philosophy of freedom and passion appeals to the chaotic nature of what few elves reside in Cheliax, and its borderline-debaucherous practices have, surprisingly, attracted a not-insignificant number of tieflings. It also has a growing membership among Cheliax's large population of halflings, both free and slave, though enslaved members of the faith must worship in secret, as Cheliax's newfound religious freedom does not apply to slaves.

Origins
Much like its mysterious Patroness, no one is precisely sure where the Cult came from. It’s the official position of Zoveina Julistarc, and by extension the Chelaxian government, that it’s foreign in origin - brought over the border by Molthuni saboteurs and other riffraff. The oddly-sudden popularity of the cult would support the theory that it was a deliberate, rather than spontaneous, introduction. Rather than starting with one group of a handful of devotees and gradually spreading from a single point, several different cults seem to have sprung up more-or-less simultaneously in far-flung corners of the Empire. Each of the original six branches of the Cult claims to have been started by a different individual who was given a vision of the Goddess Mitra shortly after her Ascension, but Chelaxian Inquisitors and itinerant devotees alike have been unable to locate them. Where they are now, or if they ever even existed in the first place, is a closely-guarded secret of the Cult.

The Still Plane
According to the Cult, their Goddess resides on (and, according to some, created) a demiplane known as the Still Plane. The Still Plane is said to be a utopian place, where expanding knowledge and experience and connecting with others is held as paramount. It is also a place where the lines between consciousnesses blur - Mara Grey writes that telepathy, thought-reading, and the reading of auras are possible in the Still Plane even without magic, for those who learn to master the Plane's secrets. Only a handful of people are known or presumed to have glimpsed the Still Plane, and knowledge of it remains murky even among many of the Cult's higher-ranking members.

The Nature of Worldly Beings
The Cult of Mitra believe that all intelligent, worldly creatures are inherently incomplete. All carry with them a divine aspect, a part of their soul that remains with them no matter what their physical form is, that remains unintegrated with their normal consciousness. It is the embracing of this aspect which gave Mitra her Divinity. The cult's practices and teachings are all designed to help its devotees ascend to a similar state.

The Four Levels of Consciousness
In her treatise on the Cult's views and practices, By the Light of the Moon, the Priestess Mara Grey outlines the four types of intelligent being, in the eyes of the Cult.

A hylic being is fundamentally beyond saving. They are singularly focused on one idea, one individual, or one sensation to the point of what the Cult sees as obsession, and structure their daily lives around that focus without making sincere attempts to better themselves. As the Cult preaches that the path to Divinity is breadth of knowledge and experience, this is more or less the antithesis of the Cultists' ideal. The Cult of Mitra thus condemns the evil, power-obsessed nobleman and the committed paladin of righteousness and good with equal measure.

The moric are the uninitiated masses - ones who can be saved, but who have not yet begun the path toward Divinity. Put simply, all those not formally members of the Cult of Mitra can be placed in this category. There are exceptions to this, however. Grey writes that any individual pursuing new knowledge and experience with the whole passion of their heart could be considered turic, whether involved with the Cult or not.

Turic beings are mostly comprised of the Cult itself - those who have begun to walk the path but have not yet attained Divinity.

Aeric beings are those who have fully realized and integrated with their divine selves. The only beings to have actually attained this state are Mitra herself and, some insist, Mara Grey.

Lay-members
The most distinctive practice of the Cult, and their most potent recruitment tool, is their devotional rituals to their Goddess that take place on the night of every full moon. These rituals are most common in settlements that contain a Shrine to Mitra, but are becoming more widespread in more rural areas. In many cases a Shrine of stone is constructed in the surrounding forest, away from prying eyes. The rituals are not highly structured, and it is common for devotees to show up already inebriated from an afternoon of revelry. In towns where the Cult has a greater foothold, certain shops will go unopened and fields untilled on the day of the full moon, which has made more than a few serf-lords furious.

The devotional services themselves vary widely, but almost all incorporate a few basic components: a roaring, massive bonfire, chants to Mitra, song and dance, and copious amounts of intoxicating substances. Those branches of the cult that know the secret to its manufacture make heavy use of a newly-formulated euphoric incense, but all provide copious wine and ale. In smaller branches, or those particularly devoted to their Goddess, it is common to pass around a ritual dagger and a goblet, into which a small amount of blood should be shed. This is done as a symbolic gesture of oneness with the other members of the Cult (for in the Still Plane, personal differences are fuzzier), and as a reminder, through pain, that one's earthly form is simply a vessel for something greater.

With these elements combined, it should be no surprise that many of these devotional rituals devolve into both literal and figurative orgies of baser impulses. While, as the Cult insists, not the point of these rituals, the Cult embraces them as a natural step toward Divinity, and an opportunity to explore new sensations and experiences. Several branches of the cult insist that focusing entirely on pleasurable impulses is a hylic act, and purposely adapt the content of their rituals to incorporate pain and pleasure in equal measure.

Priests and Priestesses
Particularly devoted members of the Cult are sometimes selected by the Priests and Priestesses to be elevated to higher status within the Cult of Mitra. The requirements for this are somewhat varied and opaque, but they require dedication both to the Goddess and to the principles of the Cult itself. Little is known about the initiation ceremony, but the government of Zoveina Julistarc alleges that it involves, among other heresies, a renouncement of Asmodeus. Priests and Priestesses are singularly dedicated to the pursuit of new experiences and knowledge, and most find them very agreeable, even to potentially-dangerous propositions, which makes them well-suited to adventuring. Many, upon completing their initiation, travel the length of Cheliax, working as courtesans, bards, healers, and the like, before finding a town or village without an established Cult and working to start one themselves.