Gaiadan Lotus Alliance

Chosen by the Great Fey

The Gaiadan Lotus Alliance does not really, technically have a single official name. It also does not have a completely clear category in regards to religion or grouping, as the group formed as the result of subtle suggestion through the Ybeli emperor-turned-great-fey Gaius' influence. It is, at least, generally fair to consider them somewhat religious and somewhat political as Gaius is both a figure of religious standing as well as political and with political intentions. The group is quite small, only consisting of four members (five if you want to include the Lechen, six if you count Gaius himself), and quite quiet for a group of relatively powerful individuals.
Overall, the group consists of those blessed by the Gaiadan Lotus– a semi-parasitic and/or symbiotic magic plant with ties directly to Gaius. The lotus' seeds are consumed, usually before a battle or situation where the user is likely to die, and if the user does happen to die, then the lotus reacts by sprouting, spreading, and with plant matter knitting back together what parts are necessary to revive the individual, likely with help from a kind of magical healing as well. The secondary use of the Gaiadan Lotus is on Gaius' end; each person revived in this way has a tie to the strange fey entity which draws them towards Gaius' intentions by way of subtle suggestion. The individual's judgement, priority, and compulsion to do one thing or another is slightly altered to nudge them in the direction of Gaius and his will. Eventually, this will potentially (four out of four known subjects) mean working more directly with the past emperor in the form of a semi-religious patronage.
The members of this cult (or sect, or order, or alliance- whatever it is, its definitely also a cult) are somewhat tied to one another in a vague way that is hard to understand from the outside. The group is somewhat ritualistic in the way of group and solitary meditative practices as well as the traditions Gaius has set for certain potential events, namely the Gaia Staff and it's trials. Their activities are, to put it bluntly, somewhat odd and somewhat secretive– whether this is on purpose or for simply because not much is talked about out loud or outside of themselves is a mystery. They generally do not seem harmful or threatening in any way to the general public; if anything their intentions are more guided towards preservation of the country and/or environment, but they are still strange to the average onlooker.

The Gaiadan Lotus

It is very unclear how the lotuses work, even in those who have them. Whether they keep someone alive for the rest of their lifespan or not, whether the life given to the individual through a lotus is at Gaius' disposal (whether or not he can "turn it off" so to speak at any given time if he wants), what it means for the individual's bodily functions (ie; it has been observed that the subjects are more than walking corpses at the very least- they have blood, a heartbeat, they breathe and eat and sleep like normal people most of the time with the exception of local insomniac Ryze who's probably an outlier and shouldn't be counted), how parasitic the lotuses are versus symbiotic, and so on are questions left vague. It is also unknown what would happen upon trying to remove or kill the lotus in/on a subject, but it is mostly speculated that such a thing would likely kill the individual by returning them to their initial fatal injuries. There are more promising options to rid a person of the lotus and cut off their dependence on the plant, however the possibilities primarily involve very strong magic, specifically True Polymorph, potentially Regenerate, or killing the person and resurrecting them with the Resurrection spell or Reincarnate spell to give the subject a new body.

Structure

There are no rankings known, simply four individuals and a Lechen under the insight of a great fey/minor deity. However, the order of which they joined/gained the Gaiadan Lotus seems to relate a bit to a sense of seniority, thus Ryze as the first of the four known and as a warlock of Gaius himself, was the one trusted with carrying out the trials for the coveted Gaia Staff.

Granted Divine Powers

The range of Gaius' abilities as a patron is hard to determine. However, from observation of his followers and knowledge of his existence as a great fey and minor deity, it can be summed up that he can provide those loyal to him with powers akin to warlocks of other great fey and related deities or figures as such. The ability to revive through the Gaiadan Lotus in general grants great advantage as well.
The only known warlock of Gaius is Ryze Comécia, however the others in the cult appear have some power of their own as well.

Political Influence & Intrigue

Part of the reason for this group being thought up and eventually pulled together was for the sake of emergency in the Ybeli Empire. Gaius separated all the pieces of the map to his great staff across the empire, and set up trials for those who are in desperate enough times to find those pieces. The group comes in as something helping to administrate and guide those who may be potential holders of the staff towards the trials, then may help with bestowing the trials themselves.
The royal family of the Ybeli Empire knew of Gaius' staff and the legend behind it, but did not know the location of the map pieces– the seven slates. During the frenzy of 1800, the political interests of the kingdom were in the slates, thus hiring a group to expedition to find them. Others wanted the slates as well, of course, as the end reward was bound to be something of great power. Aratus attempted to make claims, Morgan, Noroa and the Forgotten Rogues attempted to claim them, Ryze wanted the life slate from the very beginning of the fiasco, and so on and so forth until finally falling into the hands of the adventurers Gaius favored.