[h3]ACCEPTED[/h3]
[h2]The Cult of Long Night[/h2]

Faction type: Cult (church)

Faction Leader: Elder Nox (title given to current leader, not a specific person)

[hider=Systems/Territories] No real major holdings, but members are present all across the falling Arcturan Empire, with higher concentrations in the far reaches of Arcturan space.[/hider]
[hider=Planets/Holdings] Some planets with very high numbers of Long Night Cultists include:
Arcadia - The birthplace and life long home of the Prophet Elder Nox the First. This world has always been the official home of the current Elder Nox, and is regarded as the holy center of the cult where all major meetings are to take place. The vast majority of the planet's population follows the cult, especially with the decline and fall of the Arcturan Empire. The influx of new followers to the area has quickly turned the once relatively minor outer world into a rapidly growing bastion of the Long Night. 
The Quade - A group of small planets on the very edge of Arcturan space that were originally colonized by the Arcturan Empire before being abandoned. Those left there spent generations fending for themselves in nearly unlivable conditions, but they survived. When the Empire began to fall, many here lost all hope of returning to the fold of the Empire and were easily turned to the Cult of Long Night. The area gave birth to a number of high ranking cultists as well as extremists who seek to quicken the setting of the sun on the Arcturan Empire and herald in the night that never ends. Even among the Long Night Cultists, the Quade is considered radical, yet its influence draws much support from a number of Seperatists and Invading factions who want to see the Empire in ruin.[/hider]
[hider=Government Description] the Cult as a whole follows the ruling of Elder Nox in all things, but on a more local level there are lesser Elders who may draw in and govern the followers in a particular region. As a general rule though most cultists are never able to learn directly from these elders and form their own rulings based on what they hear passed on from other cultists. This leads to a wide range of beliefs with the common thread that the Long Night is upon us and we shall embrace it.[/hider]
[hider=History] The Cult of Long Night originated from the prophetic teachings of Elder Nox the First. He taught of the coming Long Night and how it is the duty of the people to embrace it fully for to go against the inevitability of Long Night was to seek destruction. Only by becoming a follower of Long Night would one be gifted the strength to prevail against the horrors it would bring. This teaching at first grew very slowly, most passing it off as ridiculous paranoia, but as time went on and hordes of invaders as well as splinter groups contending for the throne grew in number, more and more people saw the Long Night no longer as the ramblings of the paranoid, and now as prophecy that they had been foolish not to listen to. With the wars that tore at the Arcturan Empire, those civilians whose lives were decimated by the fighting turned to those who knew their pain and promised a way through it. Now, with the final nail being hammered into the coffin of the Empire, more converts are popping up than ever. The Cult of Long Night is growing faster than ever before, and at this rate, not even the Elder Nox can maintain uniformity among his disciples. With the shattering of the throne and the numerous factions seeking control, even the Cultists, always ignored in the shadows before, are becoming a more prominent force, having converts from all reaches of the Empire in the form of numerous other factions.[/hider]
[hider=Relations With Others] with people from all over, there are a number of cultists supporting most factions for control of the Empire's throne. The massive influx of new cultists has led to a lack of uniformity in the Cult's ideology. In truth, many cultists disagree on how best to embrace and support the Long Night and this leads to fighting between groups. While technically they are to band together, many cultists join the ranks of various pretender groups and fight with them. Others seek to bring forth Long Night through the continuation of the Empire, leading a number of older cultists especially to consider themselves loyalists. More extreme groups such as those in the Quade seek the complete destruction of the Old Empire or just revel in the Chaos of the war.
In summary, there are groups of cultists backing virtually every faction, however the Cult as a whole is unaligned in the wars.[/hider]
[hider=Military] Practically nonexistent on its own, just the standard Arcturan planetary defenses of Arcadia and the Quade really. However, as cultists typically fight within other groups, they use the standard equipment of whoever they are backing.[/hider]