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the Godwalkers

History of the Godwalkers

During the time before the Usurpation, there emerged a multitude of religious cults and sects formed along the odd beliefs of the time. Some were encouraged and led by the Solar Exalted, arranged around personal worship of the Solar or odd ideas that the exalt had developed. Others seemingly sprang whole from the beliefs of the people themselves, their need to understand and find some meaning in the chaos that was rapidly overtaking their lives while Creation seemed to sail closer and closer to certain doom.

One of these cults was formed along a somewhat popular belief: that the Exalted had become just as mad as those they had one overthrown, that their Mandate of Rule over Creation was now invalid for that reason, and that new protectors and guides must be found to lead men through the dangerous territory of Creation. Though it's beliefs were quickly labelled heresy by the Zenith Caste and the Cult forced underground, they none the less gained a solid foothold and proved impossible to fully root out. Though the Night Caste slaughtered entire cells, others remained hidden and their beliefs spread across Creation. Over time, the Cult grew into influence -- though it's potential for ascendency was held in check by the opposition of the Solar Deliberative and the Exalted that they decried as tyrants and unjust leaders.

Just as one might expect, however, this cults beliefs proved somewhat fractious and as the group grew it's beliefs began to fracture as well.

The Godwalkers are one of the more embattered of the cults in the Threshold; they formed during the time of the Usurpation, originating in the belief that the Exalted had failed as stewards of humanity and that the proper course was a return to the worship and service to the Gods. Exalts were viewed as mortal men gifted with power, but little wisdom or virtue to manage it. The example of the Solar Exalted at first established this fact, but in these days the Realm and it's Dragon-Blooded are held up as better examples. Gods were viewed as more stable, more orderly, and more worthy of respect and service.

This was a rather naive view, of course, and as the cult grew to gain more experience with the Celestial Hierarchy it's essential nature changed in a rather drastic direction. Once the cult focused on 'service and worship of the gods due to their being superior to us, and worthy of our respect'. Gradually, the Godwalker Cult shifted to 'service, emulation and respect to the Gods -- so that one day you might ascend to Yu Shan youself and take your place in the Heavens.'

The Godwalkers are deeply heretical, and the Immaculate Order particularly hates this persistent heresy. It's been all but stampted out of the Blessed Isle, but persists like a stubborn weed in the Threshold. It's places of power are particularly in the Scavenger Lands (Great Forks and Nexus, in particular, hold sizable cults), and in the West. Some Godwalkers have, since the usurpation, achieved their goals -- actually becoming Gods, and this is part of the reason for the endurance of the Cult...godly patronage! This is quite rare however, and the number of cultists to achieve such is quite low.

Beliefs of the Godwalkers

The original religious sect was an underground organization based around overthrowing the rule of the Exalted and replacing it with something that worked ‘better’. However, with the Usurpation, the Great Contagion, and the Age of Sorrows the focus of the Cult has shifted considerably from it’s roots – nearly as much as the Immaculate Order!

The godwalkers have largely given up on Creation, and seek to escape it in favor a better existence on a different plane. The Godwalkers, in respect of their ancient beliefs in the essential rightness of the Celestial Bureaucracy, tend to focus their efforts on the Gods and the Heavenly City of Yu-Shan. The beliefs of the cult state that through service to Terrestrial Divinities, one can prove ones worth to the Gods and earn your eventual ascension from mortal existence and into the domain of the Gods

Some have pointed out that these beliefs have some rough commonalities with the Immaculate Order and it’s doctrine of strict obedience to the Dragon-Blooded and the order that they support in order to gain spiritual enlightenment in a later life. These points are largely correct; the Godwalker Cultists have borrowed a few elements from the Immaculate Order, and both beliefs come from the same source in the end anyway. However, such points miss the differences in these beliefs.

The Immaculate Philosophy teaches a philosophy of obedience and the fulfillment of potential, and all the rewards for these teachings supposedly come about in future lives through the cycle of reincarnation. Godwalkers, however, seek all their rewards in their current life. A godwalker does not seek to “become one with the Gods” over a series of lifetimes of slowly accumulating lessons. Instead the godwalker plans to ascend into Yu-Shan in his own life-time (hopefully extended by his godly patron). The vehicle of this ascension is loyal service to the Gods – not out of any real sense of enlightenment, but as a means of buying ones way into Heaven through service to the Gods who have already reached this higher state.

One of the reasons that the Immaculate Order seeks to suppress this religion as much as it does is because this belief has been proven true on several occasions. There are at least five proven examples of members of the Godwalker Castes ascending above their mortal origins and becoming Gods, though only one such divinity has made it into Yu-Shan. The others remain terrestrial gods, and patrons of the cult that birthed them.

This is not to suggest that the cult is a fast road to divine ascension. For these five gods, there exist a larger number of ghosts and bound-spirits in the panoply of the gods that they loyally served. Many more godwalkers remain cultists, die in the service of their god and enter lethe to try their hand in Creation again. It is generally accepted that the path the godwalkers is dangerous, and filled with peril. Most know that they have little to no hope of achieving Godhood unless they earn a powerful and honorable patron who will treat with them fairly, and even then they will not do so unless they can make it worth that gods interest in doing so. No successful godwalker has reached divinity without multiple lifetimes of service.

Notable Godwalker Cultists