This is just a religion that I've worked up for a character I'm planning on playing in the future. I don't know that anyone at all will find this useful or even interesting, but it costs me nothing to post it up.
Alignment: LG
Domains: Spell, Rune, Artifice, Good, Law
Favored Weapon: Light hammer
Holy Symbol: Large pure white gear ringed and interlocked with smaller gold, platinum, pearlescent, crystalline, silver, and gemmed gears; magical and high-quality holy symbols have continual light cast upon the central gear, while poor-quality holy symbols are merely painted
Worshippers of the Celestial Apparatus believe that everything on the mortal plane is part of a grand plan originating in the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia. Or, more accurately, originating from a massive magical-mechanical machine that resides in the interior of Mount Celestia, closely guarded by the best and strongest Archons. This celestial apparatus has no given name, and is variably called "the Apparatus", "the Machine", "Omnimachina", "Father of Invention", and other names. The Apparatus is said to have created the plane of Celestia around itself, building up Mount Celestia from the raw Maelstrom, crystallizing raw Chaos into a shell to contain and protect its mechanisms. Believers state that the garden at the summit of Mount Celestia is the only place where the the Apparatus is accessible to mortal souls. Some worshippers go so far as to claim that the plane of Axis is an offshoot or imperfect copy of the Apparatus, although denizens of that plane either violently object to this interpretation or suggest that the reverse is true, when they deign to respond to it at all.
The central tenet of the faith is to always act in accordance with the Celestial Laws as passed down through the Archons; these laws are supposedly created by the Apparatus. The Celestial Laws as practiced by the Church of the Celestial Apparatus are exlemplified by seven Heavenly Virtues:
No single follower is expected to practice all seven Virtues at all times. Perfection -- the state of exemplifying all seven Virtues -- is a goal that is placed intentionally out of reach as a reminder that it is always possible to become a better person. Indeed, the presence of Patience as a Virtue means that only a genuine desire to better one's self in accordance with the Virtues is required to remain a member in good standing with the Church of the Celestial Apparatus. Even priests are only required to take a sacred vow to exemplify one of the Virtues, although of course they strive to exemplify the others as well. Only a priest who has maintained sacred vows to three different virtues for a period of at least 10 years may become a High Priest of the Church.
There are two sets of formal raiment for priests of the Church. One set is only used once each year for the High Prayer; this consists of a thick white cassock (satin, when available; linen or even wool in deeply rural areas) with intricate multicolored gears embroidered along the trim, an especially tall mitre bearing the holy symbol of the Church, and a short scepter topped with a seven-toothed gear. The second raiment is used in all other times, and consists of a simple white cassock and a white cloth skullcap which may optionally have the holy symbol of the Church embroidered into it. Temples of the Church are stout, unassuming structures with whitewashed walls and many enclosed spaces. The holy text of the Church of the Celestial Apparatus is On the Gears Righteous, a collection of psalms, prayers, and parables about the Apparatus, Mount Celestia, and the seven Heavenly Virtues.
The Church is generally not taken seriously by the followers of the main deities. Those who follow deities of law and good regard them as good people who are merely misguided, while others just consider them kooky cultists. Still, none can question that the members of the Church are a positive influence on society, so it's rare for there to be any open religious confrontations.
The Apparatus's favor is said to manifest through animals associated with order, such as ants or beavers, through dreams of fantastical mechanisms, and through patterns of light on cloudy days or moonless nights. Its displeasure is signified through inexplicible mechanical failures, a sourceless sense of guilt, or the rapid tarnishing of metals and appearance of flaws in crystals and gemstones.
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Very neat. There are tons of lawful machine examples in D&D's history, and a few 'infernal machines' like the one in Book of Vile Darkness that tears off one of your limbs and replaces it with a fiendish one, but there are fairly few good/upper plane-associated mechanical concepts. Definitely a cool thing to see!