Exoi God-King

The Exoi God-King was a ruler in the Exoi society of Toriafas, and ultimately in the Exoi Kritocracy.

According to the tenets of the Salbin religion, the divine Gods Beyond Galaxies had created the universe. One of them took on Exoi form, and his descendants carried that divinity in their bloodline. These beings, adherents of Salbin believed, were divinely mandated to rule over other Exoi. A cult of priests, calling themselves the Acolytes of the God-King, developed to serve the God-King, teach Salbin, and maintain orthodoxy.

Powers and duties
The Exoi God-King had the honorific title Lawgiver, a reference to his primary duty of creating new laws for the Kritocracy. The Governing Judges and lesser magistrates were empowered to apply the law based on the text, precedent, and even analogy, but only the God-King could create entirely new law or completely change existing law.

The God-King's other major governing power was the appointment and dismissal of the Governing Judges. Most God-Kings consulted with the existing Governing Judges in appointing new ones, but they were empowered to appoint and dismiss Governing Judges solely on their own impetus.

The God-King was obliged to perform rituals for the Gods Beyond Galaxies, assisted by his Acolytes. Only the God-King and the highest-ranked Acolytes were allowed to know the names attributed to the gods. The God-King could also bestow blessings on individual Exoi or whole worlds and consecrate Salbin temples.

History
From exactly which region of Toriafas the first God-King claimants emerged was lost to history. After Salbin wiped out all competing religions on Toriafas, leaving the vast majority of Exoi believing Salbinites, the God-King quickly secured his position as ruler over the Exoi. God-King Qelrayt I was one of the two founders of the worldwide Exoi Kritocracy.

During the Golden Age of the Kritocracy, the Exoi God-Kings were actively involved in government, ordering laws to deal with new situations encountered by the Kritocracy. Lines of royals who did not inherit the throne and married out to wealthy businessbeings and Governing Judges formed the basis of an Exoi aristocracy and nobility, who became an upper class on Toriafas.

After the Kritocracy was defeated in the Kritocracy-Ascendancy War, the God-Kings continued their role as legislators and religious figures in the Kritocracy for millennia. Within a thousand years of the Kritocracy's final dissolution in 155 ABY, however, the line began to suffer a variety of negative effects. The nobility had become exclusionary in the millennia since its creation, leading many nobles to intermarry rather than consort with commoners. Over centuries, this resulted in for many noble houses. The God-Kings, who had taken to marrying only nobles, increasingly tolerated cousin marriage and even uncle-niece unions.

Interbreeding and incest caused numerous defects in the final few God-Kings. Many suffered genetic abnormalities, physical deformities, and mental defects; at least one had to be succeeded by his own brother when he proved impotent. The Acolytes of the God-King, increasingly desperate to continue the line, arranged marriages with close relatives for their incompetent God-Kings, and brought in lower-class Exoi, even prostitutes, for trysts with their God-Kings in hopes of creating heirs. As the God-Kings became incapable of exercising governing power, the Acolytes themselves took over performing the God-Kings' tasks, ostensibly with the authorization of the rulers. The Acolytes made the monarchs increasingly withdrawn and secretive, allegedly for religious reasons of purity; the last three God-Kings were never seen in public from birth to death.

Chohwelk VII, the last God-King, was profoundly physically and mentally retarded and entirely incapable of caring for himself. The Acolytes kept him alive artificially for decades until Rin Sakaros came to Toriafas, discovered their deception, euthanized the God-King, and had the Acolytes responsible for the deception executed. The Governing Judges submitted the Kritocracy worlds to the Golden Empire and resigned their offices, dissolving the Kritocracy.

In the aftermath of Chohwelk VII's death, some true believers of Salbin believed the end of the universe was near. More optimistic believers hoped the end of the God-King line symbolized a rebirth for the Exoi. Many, however, simply abandoned the traditional faith.