Hrm, I developed a nation which had a resident demigod/idol a few years back. 

It was an east-meets-west culture in a mountainous snowy region.
Norse mixed with Shaolin, to create a tribe of gruff but deadly warrior peoples.

Their patron was the spirit of the mountain, who dwelt on the peak of the mountain in Shangrila/Valhalla which are considered the same.
Although technically Shangrila is the temple itself, and Valhalla is the name of the arena of the temple grounds.
And the mountain, although the highest peak in all the land, is actually a long dormant volcano, with Shangrila/Valhalla being found in the crater, allowing for sacred hot spring well fed from the melting mountain snow to nourish the hidden temple garden from which the tree of the mountain grows her golden peaches of nirvana.

Beneath the high temple are 8 temples dedicated to learning the ways of killing, as opposed to the normal settlements lower on the mountain which are pleased with learning the arts of war, women, and wine. These 8 temples are home to the Death Monks, fearsome warriors which dedicate their lives to the study of death. The monks train to become experts in combat, routinely getting themselves seriously injured or killed in tournaments to progress their ranks and maybe one day become the master of their school by taking the pilgrimage to the peak and impressing the Grandmaster in a single-bout duel. To do so would be to blow the horn of Valhalla, a fabled horn carved from ancient wood that sits frozen within the temple and announce the newest Master of the 8 schools, and calls for the ritual suicide of the last master who shall throw himself off the mountain to make way for his successor. Although the true horn is actually a smoking pipe carried and used often by the grandmaster, and anyone who he shares a smoke with shall be given authority over the mountain and take his place as he ascends to the heavens until the death of the latest mortal protector.

Of course living on a cold mountain, there is little to no vegetation, and certainly while ores were readily available from the mountain, wood was a rare commodity. There is also few in the name of animals, merely wolves which come from the foot of the mountain, rams which avoid the wolves from the bottom by surviving in the upper parts of the cold mountain, ravens which pick the frozen flesh off the dead and the occasional fish from the frozen rivers. From these animal aspects, the schools of the Wolf, Ram, Raven and Fish were created in two flavours, the white and the black, each specializing in a unique style of killing and philosophy.

Since food is scarce, the society is slightly twisted in a sense that, in this polygamous patriarchy, men and women were expected to settle down and have a family within their 25th year, and women were to bear many offspring to continue their tribe's survivability in their remote mountain nation. This of course leads to plenty of inbreeding and bad genetics, so most of its people have some degree of albinism and other rare genetic diseases, some good some bad. But essentially there are 4 major noble families ruling the mountain, with one Khan ruling as administrative king of the mountain. The men of course are graded by the number of wives they have had, thus concubines are plenty, along with strong fermented alcohols which will keep your body warm in the coldest nights surrounded by your multiple women. And women are graded by the number of children they have produced, for a barren women was considered useless. And all citizens who did not marry and have children by the age of 25, or those who are too old (and not important enough) to be of child-bearing capacity are slaughtered for meat in the cold seasons. Yes, ritualistic cannibalism was practiced as it was necessary to sustain the population. Those who feared death by slaughter could venture up the mountain to be taken in by the monks, only perhaps to die in one of their tournaments. Either way, it is a hard life, but easy death for everyone.

Perhaps Qayu would work?