The Carpocratians

Extremely decentralized urban groups of 15-25 individuals concentrated around a mid-level 'proctor' or 'master of ceremonies' who is either a defrocked priest, or utterly unrelated to religious occupations; all trappings of religion are shunned, so the cults do not follow the religious ranks that the Valentinians, Basilideans and Ophitics do. Instead, their ritual meetings are thought of as entertainments or parties at which participants are expected to engage in all manner of sinful and anti-religious behaviors. Cult missions to carry out various large-scale deviance are sometimes undertaken by one or another group, sometimes called a coven, but these lack central planning.

Ultimately the Carpocratians seek the collapse of the entire Celestii religious system, and a worship of licentiousness and personal freedom in its place. In this they are not only religious heretics but treasonous as well, and pose a threat to civil society apart from any religious damage they might do. Kidnapping, rape, and murder are not merely acceptable but expected and encouraged, as is everyday lying, thievery, drug use, and the breaking of everyday laws and rules as a religious imperative. From this they seek to sow confusion and anger at the unwillingness or powerlessness of the Celestials to protect their followers or to stop the Carpocratians. They work towards a time when social structures will collapse and self-rule will replace both religion and government. This is summed up in their nebulous term "Barpharanges", which encompasses the idea of the commission of every sin as well as the end purpose of overthrowing social structures and laws. Barpharanges is not simply a god-substitute worshipped in heretical songs and rituals, but a concept; probably at one time it served as simply a nonsense code word for sect members to identify each other without outsiders knowing their true identity. The term is now exposed to the point that it doesn't function that way any longer, but presumably other names or words might be used in the same way with double meaning.

The Carpocratian cult is inexplicably well-funded, inasmuch as it has no particular favor among the wealthy aristocrats whom it seeks to overthrow, though some of their behaviors may trend towards the perverse; generally the poor and those who see no real value from the structures of religion or society have the most interest in the cult, but they are not as a whole a very wealthy segment of the population. As such it is highly suspected, though not yet proven, that a foreign power is contributing significant funding to this movement. While Kylma, Khazig's perpetual enemy in the west, or Toz, the enemy in the east, would certainly have plenty to gain from any large-scale destabilization of the social and government structures in the Empire, both those realms also fight against their own Carpocratian cells, and the philosophy of this faith is anathema to both of them - Toz is broadly more religious, and Kylma broadly more centrally governed, than the Empire, so the threat is just as great to them. A more likely suspect despite its near absence on the international stage is Mlastina, whose shadowy ruler(s) espouse essentially the same agenda though without any religious trappings to go along with it. As a land of growing darkness but limited funds, it's much cheaper to fund subversive movements than to field actual armies against the Great Powers, and they have very little to lose and much to gain should any of these efforts actually succeed in destabilizing a government.

Carpocrates was a Khazigiri Bishop of the mid 8,000's ADE and at one time installed in the Pan Celestial Cathedral. Little is known of his life before his heretical writings, so it is difficult to identify what prompted them, but it was a period of war rationing and a poor economy, restricted travel, curfews and even martial law for months at a time in the city; a combination of rules fatigue and personal disappointments may have combined to inspire his Carpocratian Manifesto, a cult book called "Darkness Over the Light" which was a series of provocative essays against the teachings of the Celestial Church and, by extension, the rule of the Autarch of the Basilideans and the Holy Exegete of the Valentinians, and all the governments under them. While the thrust of the book was speculative rather than plainly blasphemous, nevertheless the Autarch summarily excommunicated Carpocrates in 8122, and condemned him to execution.   Instead, Carpocrates fled to the countryside and from there, into the Dry Plains, where he continued to spread his message in the west until he was captured by Andarzul, an Orcish War chief who was delighted to discover the value of his hostage to the mighty Autarch. In return for the safe exchange of the prisoner, the Autarch explicitly decreed a provision of forest and other outlands for Orc settlements inside the borders of Khazig and in the other provinces, where previously these settlements were a legal target for attack, plunder and destruction by citizens of the empire at any time, on any pretense. The exchaange made, Andarzul went on to become a great hero to the Orc nations while Carpocrates was paraded through the city and executed.   His martyrdom, coupled with the Autarch's easy willingness to cede citizen woodlands and other property for political expedience, only fueled the movement, however, and for the next thousand years its message of discontentment and rebellion spread throughout the civilized places of the world. Over time it has been thoroughly and vigorously persecuted, but the persecution very often energizes rather than diminishes the spread of the cult. As such, the Cazaxanes Autarchs (including the current Autarch, Ulyrius IV) have instead changed to a policy of prosecuting criminal acts but leaving the religious and social threats aside; assigning Carpocratians to life sentences on work gangs building and repairing the city they hate the most is particularly amusing to Autarch Ulyrius IV, and seems to be working; the cult has dwindled in the city and fallen much out of favor even in poor sections of the Quags in recent years.