It seems that very few religions can survive the departure of the founder. I suppose if Torpius were still around (when the heck did he leave?) AP would be alive, not only because there would be an elder priest, but because he seemed to take the religion roleplay quite seriously. The founder of SA is still around, isn't he? Is there an example of a faith in Dwilight that has survived losing its prophet?
Thus, to steer the discussion back to the topic a little, one feature of this ancestral faith is that it can mold into anything that the more active members make it. Sometimes I wonder if it might be so that once you found a faith, you put a lot of yourself into it and the others never feel like it is truly theirs. With the organic nature of the ancestral religion it could recreate itself time after time.
I am beginning to wonder if the concept might benefit from scrapping the agrarian part and keeping just the essential core. The name would be simply "Ancestralism" or something similar. The sects themselves would make up the taboos and similar things such as the emphasis of rural regions and so forth. There might be a sect that did all this "rural region union" stuff, while other sects would choose other things to focus on. The sects themselves, as I see it now, should really be secret societies, which would help adding in some mystery to the religion.
Essential to the sects would be to choose one divine noble to follow and pick one or two political goals as well at least one taboo that was somehow represented by game mechanics. Nobody could be certain to know who else belonged to this or that sect, but all full members had to belong to at least one. You could be a member of more, of course, but it would make a challenging life with all the taboos and different goals to work towards.
This would make Ancestralism a template of whatever aspect one desired, with often competing interests with the members. They would all share the basic value of ancestral worship, but other than that, it could become anything the players wanted. The political intrigue and such would also be there, but more behind the scenes with the secret societies. If you wanted to learn what everyone else were up to, you would need to join all the sects and advance there according to their individual paths.
This is the core of the religion. It appears to me sufficient for the purpose and pruned of any unnecessary burdens. Any thoughts?