According to temple doctrine, the world was once ruled by a single celestial sovereign whose body became the First Hearth after a war among the stars. Ten powers claimed the fragments of divine office left behind: Kethravai seized the mandate of defense, Borka the labor of survival, Orsik the cycle of life, Gantul the warmth of civilization, Vaskor the hidden art, Drazh the cracks between laws, Tzintara the pattern of fate, Szelka the will of the many, Ugrak the right of rule, and Namaru the power of knowing. Whether they inherited these offices or murdered their predecessors is the central question of forbidden theology.

The universe is a layered fortress built around the First Hearth, a star of impossible age. The earthly sphere rests on the labor of Borka and Gantul; the astral vault belongs to Tzintara and Kethravai; the hidden magical understructure is ruled by Vaskor and Namaru. Orsik tends the borders between life and death, Szelka governs the force of collective desire, and Drazh moves through the cracks between all realms. The High Ten are not a family but a shifting assembly of powers that seized, inherited, or stole divine offices.

The religion has no universal priesthood, though every major temple preserves ten altars or symbols. Each deity has its own clergy, vows, vestments, and initiation rites, while the Concord of Ten convenes during eclipses, major wars, and disputes over divine omens. Local temples usually appoint a First Keeper who mediates among the ten cults. The order of the emblems varies by region, and placing one deity first is a public political statement. Clerics commonly travel between traditions, but priests of Ugrak and Vaskor are often forced underground. Holy war is declared through the ringing of ten bells; peace is recognized only when all ten lamps burn without being shielded.

Mortals experience the High Ten as competing patrons rather than a unified church. Most communities maintain a shared shrine with ten emblems, then emphasize two or three according to local needs: Kethravai and Borka in military borderlands, Orsik and Gantul in rural settlements, Tzintara and Namaru in scholarly cities, or Szelka and Drazh under occupation. Vaskor and Ugrak are officially condemned in many realms but possess powerful hidden congregations. Clerics may serve one deity while acknowledging the others as real, dangerous, and occasionally necessary. Religious wars, oath disputes, prophetic trials, forbidden magical expeditions, and struggles over burial customs are common sources of conflict.

The High Ten teach that the dead enter the Astral March, a vast procession of souls divided by the choices they made during war. The honored travel toward Kethravai's distant citadel, the merciful rest beneath Orsik's green earth, and the ambitious bargain for passage with Vaskor. Souls who betray every oath may be hunted forever by Drazh the Unmoored. No deity agrees on whether the March ends in peace, reincarnation, or another war.