Exultism

Exultism is a faith founded in Nessus in the year 669 of the Commonwealth Era. It is notable both for its incredible age and proliferation, its vast and varied lore, its emphasis on stability, and the various angelic beings known as Heirojules. It is the faith with the single most adherents on Aramanth. 
Due to its widespread practice, and because communities on Aramanth are often incredibly isolated, the day-to-day practice of Exultism has a high variance across the world. Often it absorbs the customs or rites or the local area, incorporating them into its practices. Sometimes its practice becomes something almost secular, with priests long ago shedding the divine aspects of worship in lieu of the more materialistic benefit of the rituals denoted in their vast tomes.
That material benefit is what makes Exultism unique and likely contributes to its wide adoption. Much of the worship involved in Exultism, from the rituals, to the prayers, to the articles of faith themselves, almost always have some basis in the safe operation of tek or the navigating of various phenomena that arise around it. A prayer performed with a specific set of gestures combined with a mental recitation might all come together to project an emanation from the Deep Field that promotes crop growth. Another cleansing ritual might serve to deactivate some of the more dangerous aspects of an otherwise helpful machine. Certain charged censers might serve to disentangle reality on a dimensional level, purging an area of ultra-terrestrials. 
The deity worshipped by the church is a being known as the Pancreator, a benevolent but supremely gnostic being that exists without physical form but holds some form of dominion beyond the world of Aramanth. The first Emerald Pope communed with the being and was gifted the knowledge needed to bring the House Absolute into operation again and use that understanding to reverse what was becoming a rapid decline of humanity in those early years of their existence on Aramanth.
Priests swear fealty to the Pancreator, as does the ruling Autarch. While communion with the Pancreator gifts incredible wisdom and insight, often bordering on flashes of omniscience, even minor exposure to this communion is debilitating to the individual, often terminally so. The first Emerald Pope did not survive long after seeing the new faith she foresaw come into being, as her body succumbed to various forms of cancers and more mysterious ailments.
More often Priests communicate with a notably more restricted sliver of the Pancreator, a facet of its being known as the Increate. It is from the Increate that the Hierojules are born, arising (supposedly from the Increate's will) in the void and bodily traveling to Aramanth to advise and guide the path of civilization towards enlightenment and stability. The creatures can be mysterious, even aloof, but it is rare that their presence doesn't bring with it some form of aid or advice to the priests of individuals they visit.
The last facet of the Pancreator, and the one perhaps most steeped in mystery, is his physical avatar, being referred to as the Conciliator. Unlike the other two forms of the Exultist diety, there is fervent debate on whether the Conciliator has actually manifested itself upon Aramanth, or even how many times they may have done this. Some believe the first Autarch was one such incarnation, taking ruling power from the corrupt Council of Ministers and setting the Commonwealth down the path that saw it borders extend over the globe. Adherents to the Flame Church believe the traitor elf Faliara was one such incarnation, that the touch of the dying hierojule awaked her inner divinity, setting her on her path to ultimately save Aramanth. And, most controversial, the Gray Autarch of Naldonia, Zanathane Ioetzen, has proclaimed himself Conciliator, and that it is his destiny to usher humanity into the next stages of its being.

Structure

At the head of the Exultist Church is the Emerald Pope, who occupies a seat of power in the House Absolute, an ancient facility from which the Pancreator was first communed with almost ten millennia ago. It is from this massive facility than an army of scribes and archivists maintain staggeringly vast collections of books, scrolls, and strangers objects of data storage that have been created over the years. This information is constantly being reassed, revised, and archived as new forms of tek are discovered (or rediscovered), or when the understanding of something itself changes.
Exult Priests work with scholars to interpret and construct rituals and dogma that incorporate new knowledge and understanding. These practices are disseminated first to the Saltus Cathedrals, where a complex hierarchy of bishops, deacons, and lay-priests work in considerable tension to deliberate on the final application of the teachings. It is here that pride and zealotry can sometimes complicate matters, leading to diverging sects within the faith on the proper application of understanding.
Regardless, new priests are trained in the most up-to-date tenants of the faith and are assigned to either one of the great cathedrals in the Saltus Province, any number of smaller shrines, or directed outward to communities throughout Aramanth, either to take up positions in communities facing vacancies, join newly formed communities where they are discovered, or to swell the ranks of priests in communities that grow or face new and novel challenges.
Communication between churches is a sometimes laboriously slow process, with letters and missives sometimes taking years to make the journey from a community to the House Absolute and back again. Some communities manage devices to shorten this process, but as with most tek, these devices often only work as expected for a duration, and perhaps even then only intermittently.

Culture

Above all, Exultists are taught that order and stability are virtues to be pursued. In a world literally infused with objects and beings that sow deadly chaos, bastions of security are needed to ensure the conservation of not just civilization, but the lives of thinking peoples all across the world.
Despite the zealotry of some priests and adherents, Exultists tend to favor the practical and material. All aspects of their faith serve a purpose, even if it is one not readily apparent to people. Practices not directly applied to the control of tek may instead serve to keep a communal and healthy attitude in a local populace, teaching through repetition if nothing else which actions are most likely to lead to healthy lives, particularly ones away from the notable threats teeming mere miles beyond the community borders.

Under the Pancreator's Gaze We Perservere

Founding Date

669 CE

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

The Exult Church

Demonym

Exultist

Leader Title

The Emerald Pope

Permeated Organizations

• The Eternal Commonwealth

Location

Nessus

 Exult Priest

 Hierojule