Ataxxea

The Shadari Confederacy is the home of fugitives and refugees from dozens of worlds, many of whom were uprooted by the neighboring Azlanti Star Empire. The most powerful bloc within the confederacy is the parareligious philosophy of Ataxxea.
According to Ataxxea, the inevitable course of entropy is to be honored. Followers of Ataxxea refrain from preventing the natural decay of the universe, creating only items that hasten this decay through the use of negative energy. The mysterious sceaduinars, native outsiders of The Great Beyond, quietly support Ataxxea with weapons, other technology, and their very existence.

Structure

MEMBERS Ataxxea has a widespread following, but its cradle lies in the Shadari Confederacy. Its power is so great that even followers of competing philosophies and religions in the region find it expedient to offer lip service. Many individuals in the border regions around the Azlanti Star Empire adhere to Ataxxea as a sign of rebellion or simply to have an ally in the fight. The cult’s message that the world should be left to rot resonates with these unfortunates, even if they don’t have time to delve into the intricacies of its esoteric philosophy.
Ataxxea’s true believers are easily identified, having received tattoos of the Eye of Enlightenment. The ink used is infused with negative energy, which makes the mark incredibly long lasting and often grants the recipient supernatural abilities.
LEADERS The preeminent leader of Ataxxea is Shabarae the Ascendant (NE female Draelik solarian). Having risen through the ranks due to her skills in manipulating negative energy, Shabarae has proven a focused and ruthless leader. Although she holds no official position in the Shadari Confederacy, her input sways many Low Council decisions, and she controls the hierarchy of priestlike leaders, known as Enlightened, who command vast influence throughout the confederacy.
The sceaduinars, in as much as anyone has communicated directly with these hate-filled outsiders, do not adhere to Ataxxea so much as support its spread across the Material Plane. The cult upholds these creatures as all but deific—an ideal of existence—and as patrons who offer guidance and gifts to further their goals.
ENEMIES Ataxxeans have few allies. They scorn most deities, who they feel betrayed the sceaduinars at creation, and they view undeath as a disease that perverts negative energy. While outsiders see little difference between the philosophy of Ataxxea and the Cult of the Devourer, Ataxxeans resent such comparisons and see followers of the Devourer as little more than children trying to break a toy they don’t understand.
But it is the Azlanti Star Empire that most threatens the Shadari Confederacy by working to purge those who adhere to Ataxxea wherever they find it. Ataxxea, in turn, reaches out to other enemies of the Azlanti. Many refugees have been shepherded to safety and resistance fighters gifted horrifying weapons in exchange for simply listening to the philosophy of Ataxxea.

Public Agenda

The philosophy’s grand goal is to shepherd along the stately advancement of entropy, largely through negative energy technology like the draeliks’ iconic shadowstaves. One belief of some Ataxxeans is that once enough negative energy has entered the universe this way, the rightful path of the universe toward decay will be restored… and unstoppable.
One tool, provided by the sceaduinars themselves, is the Unmaker. Ataxxea’s leaders believe this being, a wounded creature hailing from the creation of the universe, holds the key to reversing that creation. After decades of study, Ataxxeans have tested the secrets of unmaking on several small worlds, leaving them lifeless and covered with crystals that glow with negative energy.
A smaller project of the faith—though no less significant—is an attempt to fabricate a soul composed of negative energy, rather than positive. Some of the cult’s members, including Shabarae the Ascendant, cultivate rumors that they have made themselves into beings of negative energy akin to sceaduinars, but to date no one has managed to make anything close to a new soul. Most attempts have resulted only in the creation of various types of undead.

Type

Religious, Cult