The God Emperor
The God Emperor is head of the Imperial Power, and the Ruling Lord of the House of the Masks
The Apotheosis
The Apotheosis is a blood ritual, normally carried out at the time of the Rebirth and in the Umbilicus, overlooking the Plain of Thrones, when the Candidate—elected by the Chosen—is transformed into the God Emperor, the incarnation on Earth of the Twin Gods, when his blood is turned to ichor and They become fully divine
Ichor
Ichor is the fiery substance that runs as blood in the veins of the Gods. The Chosen believe that through the ritual of an Apotheosis, the blood of a God Emperor is transmuted into ichor, the purity of which They pass on to their offspring. The Chosen minutely calculate and tabulate how much ichor burns in their blood because this is the basis on which they determine status
The Rebirth
The Rebirth is a ritual carried out every year in the Plain of Thrones before the assembled tributaries off all the peoples subject to the Chosen. This is when the flesh-tithe is brought to Osrakum. The Chosen, arrayed on the thrones of the Umbilicus, witness the renewal of the God Emperor, a repurifying of his blood to purest ichor, and with Their renewal, the Commonwealth is renewed. The Apotheosis is a special version of the …
Chosen Family Trees
All about Chosen family trees and how to read them.
Blood
The Chosen believe that it is their blood that sets them apart from other beings. It is in their blood that their semi-divinity resides, derived ultimately from descent—however partial—from a God Emperor. The Chosen believe that, at his Apotheosis, a new God Emperor receives the ‘essence’ of the Twin Gods, transmuting his mortal blood into pure ichor: the divine, burning blood. A child fathered by a God Emperor receives the gift of this ichor intermixed with the blood of its mother.
