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A dark comedy about a cult leader who suddenly comes to his senses, realises that running a cult actually fucking sucks, tries to quit several times but the followers are too clingy, until he realises that the only way to get rid of them is to fake his own death in the most credible, believable, tangible way possible, in a way where absolutely none of them could deny that they really saw their leader straight-up die right in front of their eyes. Wouldn't even cross their minds to doubt that the corpse isn't the real deal. Their idea that their precious leader could never die (he said so once, while on cocaine) is shattered, their whole world is shattered.

So the former cult leader weasels out of it and starts a brand new, completely normal life somewhere else, happily pretending that absolutely none of that ever happened.

And then the followers find him again.

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just FYI!

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I was looking at enemy types for fic purposes. And I saw this.

First thought: Why do the Bishops’ healers wear robes that look like Narinder’s?

Second thought: ……what if they’re not wearing Narinder’s robes. What if Narinder was imprisoned while wearing a healer’s robes. 😐

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the most mortifying part about posting abt your ocs is posting about your ocs

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thinking

about how when shamura says bonds (chains) must be forged in godly matters they refer to both the bishops' blood but also narinder's. look at his robes, the red in the middle that starts at his throat and trails down, as if his throat had been cut not necessarily to kill but to make him bleed as much as possible

in the game, the god of death cannot die. the only time the player is in actual risk of "dying" (permadeleting a save file) is when they have 0 followers for two days. the solution to this is to recuit TWO followers minimum. guess who narinder has by his side in the afterlife.

TWO followers, given to him by shamura. they said they didn't want narinder to be lonely. But exactly why would narinder be lonely if he was "swelling with devotion" ? and forneus never says when her kits were taken, just that they were a gift to "the one they loved the most." by "they" it is heavily implied that she's referring to shamura. still, I don't think shamura meant to gift them to narinder out of malice. i truly think he did not wish for him to be lonely.

now, what does narinder say about baal and aym?

intended as KEEPERS??? why would narinder interpret them as keepers, if they were gifted to him before he was imprisoned? maybe he thought shamura was distrustful of him from the start. but even then, if they were already his loyal followers by that point, why wouldn't they be chained? they're completely free to move. Not to mention, look at their eyes. reminds you of something??

DISSENTING FOLLOWERS. all four bishops and their respective minibosses have black scleras and red irises. the only characters / enemies who have similar eyes to baal and aym are the witnesses, that I theorize are old enemies sealed away by the bishops that rise after the death of their capturer. (and barbatos but like. they're the only miniboss who has those eyes so I don't count them) Maybe shamura sent them to narinder under the guise of "keepers," knowing that narinder would guide them. Notice what he says. "Must I be blamed for my influence?"

Narinder says it was here that they cast the chains that bound him (ignore kallamar's joy I have no clue why he's so happy here?) meaning it's here that they probably fought. The monument says the same. "Here did death no longer wish to wait." this obviously refers to narinder. The one who waits could no longer bear to wait, and he put his and the other bishop's reigns in peril trying to expand his domain. shamura feared narinder would grow too greedy and held a council of war with the others.

Narinder struck at them, supposedly second. They knowingly attempted to kill (bound) their brother, just like cain and abel, and were punished for it. See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, think no evil. narinder was punished too, relegated to the afterlife, destined to be forgotten, to rot. my theory is that shamura gave him baal and aym afterward. they loved him the most, to the point where their brother being forgotten, truly dying, was so unbearable that they gifted him two young followers under the guise of "keepers."

also think about kallamar and how he can't bear to see narinder. We know that kallamar is the second oldest, and that he's aware of his cowardice.

"... of course, it could not last forever. Perhaps my siblings did not understand this, but I have always known."

"It did not make me less afraid. Cowardly Kallamar, ha..."

"So many things I did not wish to hear... Narinder's foolish plans."

"When Shamura told us what we must do to ensure our survival... I did not wish to hear that, either."

"And yet I was a willing conspirator. Cowardly Kallamar."

shamura tells us this.

I think shamura set aside their fear of losing their brother and the love they held for him, to save themselves and their other siblings in case narinder betrayed them. kallamar did not. he was cowardly, he did not wish to hear narinder's heresy or shamura's plans, even knowing their happiness would not last.

side note, narinder's speeches to you after beating each bishop are the longest when he talks about kallamar and shamura. This could also be because he knows the lamb for longer at that point, but I do truly think that he couldn't bear to resent his youngest siblings enough to blatantly insult them like how did to kallamar and shamura.

not to mention heket's dialogue. she blames the red crown, never her older brother. when she does refer to him, she calls him a monster who will not be satisfied until all four of them are felled. she never names him. she grieves, laments about how they were happy once, all together.

narinder's dialogue about leshy is the shortest. maybe it's because they didn't know each other well, since leshy was so young, but leshy is directly stated to not have known about the plan, at least not completely. I don't think narinder resents him as much as the other because of that. leshy even calls the lamb an unworthy bearer of the crown. he doesn't insult narinder, he simply calls him "the chained one."

shamura deems you an unworthy bearer of the crown if you bow to them: "I am disappointed, I admit. I thought my brother had better… taste."

if you do not bow: "A lion in the guise of a Lamb. I expected no less from a vessel of the Red Crown. Very well. War is also my domain."

shamura is also the most outwardly resentful of mortals. "He wanted to open the doors between Life and Death, to... to allow their return. Those mere... mortals." they were the oldest, but also the most prideful, even more so than heket, who is the only other bishop who commands you to bow, and has similar dialogue to shamura. but if you do not bow, she does not compliment you like shamura does, instead she demands you to bow again, which shows her immaturity.

if you bow: "Ha! Cowardly vermin. You disgust me." if you do not bow: "You will bow, or I will make you!"

another side note about heket:

"There is no justice in this world."

"No matter how... how loudly you demand... urge... beg..."

she tells you this after you give her relic back. this is purely headcanoning now, but perhaps she had her throat torn out by narinder because he could not bear to hear her beg.

TL;DR: narinder was so, so loved. my doomed siblings 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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War breeds death, death breeds plague and famine, plague and famine breed chaos

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Human bishops from youuurrs truly. It's been so long since I've drawn normal humans I don't think any of my anthros really match up with the faces I draw, it's fun but it always takes a while to get right. Sniffles. lineart/sketch below because i enjoy it.

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i like to think that combined effect of lamb's execution and trauma seeing other sheep die horribly is unability to speak and communicate properly. they can just bleat and gesture? nor knowing nor wanting to learn any sign language. Crown gives them the power to send some kind of mental waves to communicate with other beings and give sermons, making them a very mistic figure. im still thinking about their backstory and picking their name

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thank fucking god I'm not 14 anymore

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soooooooooooooo ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm longread..... au lore dump..... ehh...

I like to give Narinder mlp princes Luna ahhh trauma and maybe add another layer of motivation to work on resurrection

Like imagine all his siblings can do something energetic and lively? They can give the chaos, the health and long life, the tasty food and deepest knowlege. and like what bro has to offer? he is da death. happy afterlife? its cool? but youll die anyway???? and like nobody know if afterlife will ever be, and it is AFTER life, so its not nessesary to care about? because why serve dude who promises you some.....uhhhhh... not essential to survivng thing that may be not actually real cuz there is nothing and nobody to confirm it?

we have

pestilense & health - long life great health

famine & feast - FOOD.

war & knowlege - you are staying alive and safe, able to protect yourself & you gain knowledge, which you can use to live better life

chaos as bad and maybe..................... ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fun chaos??? - you are living the most fun life u can only imagine and its like constant lottery-like situations everywhere and cheap dophamine thing??

and

death.

just imagine number of...... activities and rituals that u can perform in case of other siblings; idk shamura - crusades, training, lectures, study and etc etc; heket - farming, feasts, alchohol brewing, remember mushrooms in anura tho?; kallamar - medicine, fine arts, kallamar is also great warrior but if shamura is in cool chess grandmaster way and murder machine, kallamar is more like like fight art way, cool tecniccue and performance. leshy....... all kinds of shit imaginable, hes the chaos himself.

and.... narinder can go: cool funeral! turning you in creepy ass shit that you neraly die after transforming back! ummmm ascention: you dissappear with a happy smile! and sacrifice!!!

I'm not saying that he had to offer NOTHING and that people didn't care at all but he hadn't got anything that can improve life conditions, or provide something for survival?

I like to think that in game follower lvls worked smth like this, considering that the regions was much bigger than the cult I think about of a medium sized USA state...... idk..........

and most of people have never seen the god of the domain close up

the god

disciples and witness - 5 people

closest followers more like radical sect - about 100/300 followers i think (8 - 10 lvl)

close followers or fanatics - not so radical but still more sect like - umm like 20% population of the region (5-8 lvl) I like to think that in every town or village was some kind of these dudes as loyalty enforcer tax collector etc

common followers - like common religious people - about 50% population (2-5 lvl)

neofits and maybe some more atheistic guys - the rest of them. imagine typical man who celebrates some religious holidays and attend sermons from time to time like once in half a year (0-2 lvl)

maybe most of his flock was elderly (when you are that old you often think about death and afterlife), which is also isnt great. elders cant reproduse and work. elders often can't even live long enough to promote to at least 5 lvl. they just go to narinder to live the rest of the life and die. and not like all of them will want to go to him, a majority of them are loyal to their og god till their death, so only not really religious elders join. i think he had the eldest and the most atheistic flok of all of the old faith.

also consider awerage lifespan of a follower that days, I don't think a lot of people made it to their 60s

so narinder was drastically unpopular compared to his siblings. i like to think that he had only a witness (mb Forneus???? idk) and.... one or two disciples because he just couldnt recruit enough people to become his 0-5lvl followers, the vast majority of the religion, and because of this had little to nobody to become his close and closest people.

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the line hits me to my core

I have wept a thousand times, and I will weep a thousand more.

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You were born to be a sacrifice. When you first exited your mothers womb the oracles decided that would be your fate. They tattooed your hands and forehead so everyone would know.

When you turn twenty, they'll take you to the church, and they'll set you on fire. And then when your body is burned they'll give your ashes for the angels, and the angels and saints will be proud, and bless your community and family with great riches. Or at least that's what they say.

When you were young it didn't seem to mean anything that you were born to die young. Nobody cared, they just saw you as another kid. But it was always there. Adults would ask other kids what they wanted to be when they grew up, but they'd ask you what you would do once you were a ruler in the court of heaven. They'd tell other kids about marriage and sex and having children, but for you that would just be for other people, you'd die a virgin.

And at a certain age, you were removed from school. Because they said you wouldn't need it. That you shouldn't be wasting your time on such things. And you didn't understand, but you understood that all your freinds were upset that they wouldn't see you anymore. Not as much at least. And people talked about you so much differently from then on. You weren't complimented as strong, or as smart, or as ambitious, you were pretty, and pure, and brave, and dutiful. And everyone talked about how proud they were of you, how wonderful it was that you were going to die for them.

They were so nice to you. They gave you so many gifts and jewelry. You got to spend all day inside playing video games, and you got the best toys and got to go to movies and plays when you wanted to. Soldiers in power armor would bow when they saw you, and robots and cyborgs would turn off their lights. And you sat at a special place in church, and the clothing you wore was diffrent then everyone else's. And people talked about how wonderful you were, and how pretty you were, and how much they loved having you when they knew you wouldn't be on this world for long. And they were so proud of you when they showed you the platinum clothing you would wear on the day of your sacrifice. And you didn't understand why but all of the compliments sounded sad.

As you grew older things changed. The other children went through puberty, but you didn't, they gave you surgery to prevent it, ans told you how pure you were for not producing blood or seed. And you were old enough to understand that you would die, that you would burn, and it would hurt, and that nobody really knew for sure what happened after peopled died. And you saw a sacrifice, and saw the pain they were in, and there weren't any angels, there were only priests watching and chanting, and the smell of burning skin.

Your parents and family started to care much more how you behave. To make sure you're polite. To make sure you're a good sacrifice, who the angels will like. And meanwhile while all your other freinds are going to college, and talking about becoming artists, or starship pilots, or scientists, you know you'll only ever have one ending. But still, everyone loves you, and you don't have responsibilities, but still sometimes you think about how much diffrent life would be if you were born differently.

You've started meeting people who've left the faith, or people who didn't grow up in it, people who believe in diffrent religions or in no religion at all. And your heaven seems less and less certain every day. According to imperial law you're allowed to be sacrificed, but if you choose not to they can't force you. But if you choose not to you can never be a part of your faith again, and your family will be disappointed in you forever. All your family and community, everyone who you ever knew, will consider you a failure, a coward doomed to hell for not going through with what the cosmos planned for you. And all that pride and joy they felt about your fate would be replaced with anger that you never became what they were so happy and proud about you being. You don't think you believe in heaven anymore, but you still might choose to die, if it means they're proud... it's what you're raised to do, you don't know who you'll be if you choose to leave.

Better choose fast darling, it's only a few months away now. You don't want them to be upset.

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Cult of the lamb swapped au where the deity of death, the lamb actually doesn’t wanna be the deity of death anymore, and literally just wants to be free. so when this black cat named nari is sacrificed and wonders into their domain, mad as hell, the lamb is like “hey u want a job and also get ur revenge ” and makes a deal with him to make a cult, defeat the other bishops, free the lamb, and become the new god of death so the lamb can retire and touch(and eat) grass

But they know in order to shed their god form and pass on the mantle, they gotta be defeated in battle. so after the last bishop falls, they tell nari what’s gotta happen and tell him they have to go all out or else it won’t count, and the showdown has to be witnesses by his followers so nari has to be extra sure he’s ready for that battle cause if he looses, the followers will loose faith in him. The fight takes a couple tries to actually win, but the lamb is always sure to bring nari back if he looses to try again

And then nari finally wins and the lamb is finally free and in a mortal body. The lamb thought nari wouldn’t want them around and is content to live in in exile, cause even though they spent so much time together and bonded a lot, nari has a resting bitch face and black cat energy. So the lamb totally thinks he doesn’t like them(even thought the lamb reaaaaaaaallllly likes him).

And then to the surprise of no one (besides the lamb) nari brings the lamb back to the cult, already has a house built next to the leaders tent with the lambs name on it, fancy new pretty clothes, and a bouquet of flowers in hand. Nari is still awkward as hell but then the lamb says “I thought u hated me” nari has to admit he likes like the lamb but is super shy cause he thought the lamb was really pretty

Also of note, I’d imagine the lamb was sealed during their teenage rebellion stage and has since mellowed out so when the other bishops become followers and hear the lamb is a follower too, the expect a revenge driving hellion(mostly because of the vessel they sent to kill the bishops and how unhinge nari was during battle), and instead they find the lamb is in charge of the nursery and is super happy and content with life and is actually happy to see them

Another idea in this au I had was that instead of aym and baal being there with the lamb, their mama volunteered to go instead to keep her sons safe, and that kinda helped calm the lamb and help them through their trauma and teenage angst by having a mother figure help them through. This also means before you fight the lamb, you gotta get through forneus first.

In this au, the lamb has more knowledge about those sun and moon necklaces , so the first thing they do once they’re free is ask nari to bring forneus back and help her get back to her babies (who run her shop now)

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this is such a cool take it... it really inspires me

One of the most interesting things to me is how, even after indoctrination, Narinder's name doesn't change from "The One Who Waits" it's there by default. YOU have to change it to Narinder. But even then, it's not really his name anymore.

I think the horror of being trapped in one place, in one area, for literally HUNDREDS of years, is unexplored in this fandom. Even though Narinder is a god, it's heavily implied he was bored with his task. He felt stifled by being the god of Death. Constant, Unmoving-- A binary. He was not in the flux his siblings were. And at the end of the day that feeling-- feeling stuck, is what led him to act. Also funny thing here; Feeling trapped in his domain is what led him to being literally trapped in his domain. LMFAO.

But the point of explaining that is to point out how he DID feel trapped and it was irritating him in some way. Great, now what happens when you trap someone who is irritated with their purpose in a room with nothing and nobody (spare 2 people) for a thousand years. Oh and also he just got betrayed by his siblings, one of whom is punishing him for doing what THEY introduced to him. Speaking of Shamura and Aym and Baal actually-- Fun fact, Solitary confinement is still Solitary confinement even if you have three people in a room together. It's still torture!

ANYWAYS all of this is to say Narinder losing his name is indicative of an identity change. Which makes complete sense, being trapped in one room with nothing to do but state and idfk guide souls to their destination (a task he was already fed up with) would drive someone actually insane. It's. Horrifying to think about. His name is completely erased from all records and history, he's given the title 'The One Who Waits' in response to a prophecy, thousands of innocent sheep are slaughtered to stop the prophecy from commencing, etc. Of course he's not going to be 'Narinder' anymore, the Bishop Narinder is long dead. He's replaced that with so much rage and anger and misery. The One Who Waits is the only part of him that remains.

Its so miserable and sad and it makes me SICK actually. Especially in relation to the other bishops. I like to think that even after they've 'made up' in some sense of the word, that their dynamic is completely changed. They're all wildly different people due to everything, yes, but Narinder-- The One Who Waits, is unrecognizable. I love playing with my toys i hope if you read this it makes you as ill as it makes me