When the First Engine cracked beneath the newborn world, six sparks escaped into the desert. Korrik caught the spark of sequence, Auzmendi the spark of balance, Catrin of the Red Mile the spark of motion, Branoc the spark of possibility, Gethra the spark of making, and Uqllu the spark of hunger. Together they prevented reality from collapsing, but each interpreted that duty differently. The pantheon has been arguing ever since, while mortals live in the moving shadow of their unfinished repair.

The universe is a vast locomotive called the First Engine, built from the bones of dead stars and powered by mortal choice. Its six great mechanisms are tended by the gods. Korrik governs the timetable, Auzmendi the pressure gauges, Catrin the tracks, Branoc the whistle and wind, Gethra the repair yards, and Uqllu the furnace below. The Engine is not traveling toward a destination; it is keeping reality from coming apart.

The religion has no central church. It is organized into six interlocking traditions called the Spur Houses: the Red Ledger of Korrik, the Even Cup of Auzmendi, the Open Track of Catrin of the Red Mile, the Whistling Roads of Branoc, the Living Forge of Gethra, and the Ashen Invoice of Uqllu. The first five cooperate uneasily through local councils, while Uqllu's cults operate as hidden lodges, debt societies, funeral circles, and industrial conspiracies. Most settlements honor several gods at once, treating the pantheon less as a family and more as a dangerous public utility.

The gods are visibly involved in mortal life. Their agents sponsor rail companies, frontier settlements, labor guilds, outlaw bands, clinics, courts, and expeditions. Divine miracles often resemble extraordinary technology: a repaired engine, a road appearing through a canyon, a pressure gauge warning of disaster, or a dead voice speaking through a telegraph. Clerics and champions are expected to take sides in practical disputes, and no temple is considered legitimate if it has never inconvenienced a powerful mortal.

The dead arrive at the Brass Horizon, a limitless rail platform beneath a starless sky. Korrik counts their deeds, Auzmendi weighs their debts, and Catrin of the Red Mile offers them one final journey. Those who accept become conductors, messengers, or guardians in the service of the living gods. Those who refuse are claimed by Uqllu, who turns their memories into fuel for the underworld engines. Gethra alone can free a soul from the timetable, though doing so is considered an act of cosmic sabotage.