Cult nihilism (ideology)
Cult nihilism, known in formal contexts as Kæra nihilism or Azraic nihilism, is the extremist ideology and associated doctrine produced from the implementation of Ritual nihilist philosophy in Kæra'zna. In Kæra'zna proper, the term is associated with extremist interpretations of the state ideology - most prevalently expressed by the Purity faction. Due to its ideological roots as a political expression of Moral nihilism through the lens of furthering a collective in-group based upon an ethnonationalist framework of inclusion, the ideology has a complex relationship with fascism, with debates on the exact nature of the ideology in relation to that of fascism a common facet of the political analysis of Kæra'zna.
While even the term Azraic nihilism has been refuted as official doctrine by the currently ruling Fundamental Doctrinaires - with the faction's formal position being that the Kæra state adheres entirely to Ritual nihilism in its "pure, philosophical form", outside observers have noted the continuity of Kæra-specific additions to its philosophical root which can be presented as a broader ideological framework for the nation. Due to this de facto framework, factions within the Kæra Government tend to, with some deviation in specific aspects, adhere to the same ideological basis, with conflicts between factions generally over the implementation of Cult nihilism, rather than the basic foundations of the ideology itself.
Cult nihilism presents itself as - and predominantly adopts practices from - Ritual nihilism, however the ideology places considerable emphasis on the traditional cultural values of the Azraic people of North-eastern Borea, to which the ideology traces back much of its doctrine of Species supremacism, Anti-individualism and the encouragement of Necroequanimity - the traditional Azraic practice of rejecting the veneration of the dead. This willingness to adopt cultural practices has previously been linked to the tolerance towards the Cardinial faiths, despite the adoption of predominantly secularist and occasionally antireligious policies within the ideology, primarily targeted at the previously existing Akuan minority in Kæra'zna.
As an expression of such a convergence of beliefs, Cult nihilism has been described as promoting a semi-consequentialist model of the state, in which the overarching goals of the state are taken as absolute justification for any action taken by it that may cause harm to its population. This model naturally promotes a system to which the populace are disfranchised and taken out of the decision-making process in order to establish a meritocratic hierarchy for the advancement of the state as a whole, comparable to a technocracy. Despite this, the system's rejection of morality diverges it from traditional consequentialism, with adherents of Cult nihilism describe themselves as advancing the power of the state not for moral means, but as an adherence to a "natural state of belief" in which a group must seek to empower itself at the expense of others. In this, the ideology adopts an extreme and radical interpretation of the Ritual nihilist acceptance of pointlessness as a quality of the universe providing its beauty, advocating actions which can be internally described as without true purpose, while justifying them as expressing intrinsic aspects of sentience.
In its utilization of this model, the ideology has been described as in opposition to the prioritization of the individual, democracy, pluralism and the Marxist idea of class conflict.