[jeezfrk]

Complex teleological hierarchies of followers of many types of worlds have been around since the Gnostics before Christ.

If it is elite warriors, or philosopher-magicians or kings or emperors or gurus, many earlier faiths and ideologies have supposed a superior plane of existence for their "type" of believer.

We do (in reality) have nations, classes, cultures and maybe one could say secret societies that live blessed lives by some design. Some "animals" are more equal than others. Still, I would venture luck has a far bigger role in their favored status in this material plane.

By this reasoning ... extreme actions (without a genuine benefit in a 2 or fewer generations) ... are usually done by cults.