resquices-of-godhood

[resquices-of-godhood]

most of the answers can be seen in the worldbuilding posts, but I'll be resuming what I can as I answer the questions after the break.

How do Crowns work?

Answered in this post. Sadly, there's too much to explain to make a resume here.

Do they have preset domains or is a domain dependent on something else like environment or how the bearer obtains it?

They have preset domains. Those with single domains don't share it with other Crowns, those with multiple share each with different ones.

Are they sapient?

Some more than others, but overall, yes.

Do the other crowns have animal forms or is the red crown special?

They all have animal forms, though not necessarily the same. As an example, both Red and Purple Crowns can take the form of snakes (Red is a more generic snake, Purple is a cobra).

What’s your Lamb and Narinders relationship with the red crown?

Before the usurping, they have a neutral relationship to it, as one does with their tools, with a bit of curiosity added in regards to what it can really do. Afterwards, they are very wary of its intentions.

What’s the Bishops relationship with their respective crowns?

Leshy saw his as a prank co-conspirator. Heket saw hers as a ravenous beast she could direct to attack others. Kallamar often had discussions about what accessories to use when getting ready for the day with his. Shamura used to confide in theirs before a difficult decision prior to the schism, but due to how the Purple Crown embedded itself in their brains to stabilize them, they stopped doing it.

Is there other crowns that just haven’t been found yet? What’s shapes and colors

Many, many other Crowns, from all shapes and colors and materials.

What’s going on with Haro and Chemachs crowns?

Chemach's is one of the more sapient Crowns out there and has all but full control of her, having driven her to madness with its knowledge. Haro's is... A secret for now. ;)

Does someone/thing create the crowns or do they just appear out of the ether?

It depends on the Crown and when it came into being. Those that had a matching ancient god were made by the ancient god of Artifacts, later by Chemach. Some, however, had the concepts that gave them their domains come into being after the first Crowns were being made, and as such spawned as Crowns already.

Do crowns affect their users in any way besides giving them powers?

It affects them in many ways, mentally and physically, unique to each individual Crown's disposition.

Are they picky about their bearers?

Some are, but most will take whatever bearer they can get at the time.

Can they even willingly choose their bearers?

Not directly. They can reject bearers, or favor one over the other when there's a dispute for it, but they can't just choose the bearer in most cases.

Are they their own separate being or an extension of their bearers?

Separate beings.

How much control do they have over their bearers actions? How much free will do they have?

All Crowns are capable of completely taking over the bearer if they so desire, but it is usually counter productive to do so directly due to the constant struggle with the bearer's will.

Is their relationship with their bearers beneficial for both parties or is it just beneficial for only one party?

Depends on the Crown. Some are more selfish than others.

Is it a parasite?

Following the formal definition of parasite, no, they are not.

Do they have good intentions or bad? Or is it morally grey intentions?

They are morally grey. Where the slide is on the scale depends on the individual Crown's disposition.

Are they connected to the mystic sellers in anyway? (The whole eye motif, the mystic sellers kinda look like big anthro crowns if you squint)

Only in so far that if someone manages to kill the Mystic Seller, a Crown can be made out of them (something no one desires to do as they are far more useful as they are now).

What happens when a bearer wears it for a extended period of time? (Longer than the bishops would have.)

The development of a rightful Crown bearer ends a little over 11 decades after first bearing the Crown. That's when they take proper control of a fully developed eldritch form. They can grow in power infinitely according to how much devotion they can harvest, but there's very little mental change and no physical ones after this point.

Can they be destroyed?

There currently are no known ways to permanently destroy a Crown. Even if someone manages to destroy its current manifestation, a new one will appear before Chemach in a matter of years at most. They can be starved and kept in this state for as long as they aren't brought back to Chemach to be "rebooted", for lack of a better word.

Add your favorite Crown headcanons if you want!

The Gray Crown as a whole and how it operates. Call me biased, but I like how I have been handling my own creation so far.

Crown questions for fun world building purposes-

How do Crowns work?

Do they have preset domains or is a domain dependent on something else like environment or how the bearer obtains it?

Are they sapient?

Do the other crowns have animal forms or is the red crown special?

What’s your Lamb and Narinders relationship with the red crown?

What’s the Bishops relationship with their respective crowns?

Is there other crowns that just haven’t been found yet? What’s shapes and colors

What’s going on with Haro and Chemachs crowns?

Does someone/thing create the crowns or do they just appear out of the ether?

Do crowns affect their users in any way besides giving them powers?

Are they picky about their bearers?

Can they even willingly choose their bearers?

Are they their own separate being or an extension of their bearers?

How much control do they have over their bearers actions? How much free will do they have?

Is their relationship with their bearers beneficial for both parties or is it just beneficial for only one party?

Is it a parasite?

Do they have good intentions or bad? Or is it morally grey intentions?

Are they connected to the mystic sellers in anyway? (The whole eye motif, the mystic sellers kinda look like big anthro crowns if you squint)

What happens when a bearer wears it for a extended period of time? (Longer than the bishops would have.)

Can they be destroyed?

Add your favorite Crown headcanons if you want!

[resquices-of-godhood]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

[resquices-of-godhood]

I might as well answer these, as it gives some insight on how things work in Resquices of Godhood. So, in order:

Ratau is a mentor figure for Leoda. Not exactly paternal, but someone they go to ask for advice over some knuckle bones and booze. Oh, and to party hard too.

By the time they first reached the cult grounds, their teeth had already changed into feline fangs.

Not particularly. Most of the time it's a chore that has to be done for one reason or another, though sometimes it's a good stress relief and some alone time to just turn their mind off.

The traders aren't part of the cult, and as such aren't treated the same as the other followers. Their offer of devotion is transactional for Leoda's help.

Sin is a type of energy that accumulates in everyone as they indulge in the vices of the flesh. It just so happen that this accumulation is much faster under a Crown, which is then harvested once enough has been accrued in any given person.

Yes, he does.

Another god to trade with that may need some guidance for the time being.

Disciples have some special jobs they can do that a regular follower can't, and they do put the extra effort for the sake of their leader.

Not in the slightest.

It's disorienting at first, but after a few of those it got numb, specially when they started having to raise themself.

CotL Questions

Buncha random ones I haven't seen and I think would be fun to ponder

What is your Lamb's relationship with Ratau?

Did your Lamb experience any immeadiate changes when first recieving the crown? If so, what changed?

Does your Lamb enjoy crusades?

Do npcs who become followers only techinically followers get special treatment? (To be clear I mean the lighthouse dudes, Plimbo, Sozo before he ODs. The areas in game that give bonus faith once youve met a criteria)

How do the Bishops encourage/find(?) Sin among followers?

If Narinder is alive and was spared, does he regret what he's done to the other Bishops?

How does the Mystic Seller view the Lamb?

Do disciples work harder than regular followers? (Could apply to either Lamb's disciples or disciples of the Bishops)

Does your Lamb trust the Fox?

Is revival painful for the Lamb or are they numb to coming back after dying?

[resquices-of-godhood]

Chapter XIII: Red, the god of Death and Judgement.

First << Previous <- Next ->

The file begins thus:

This entry details all the information acquired through the learning of legends of old, without the help of the moonfaced god of Trade. Despite all attempts at bartering for that information, none was provided.

Red was the ancient god of Death and Judgement, and as such was part of both councils, both among the most important among the deities of that time. The council of Death for determining and guaranteeing the natural cycles of life and death, and the council of Judgement for creating, maintaining and upholding the laws of the universe.

Finding themself in both, Red had grown egotistical, narcissistic and cruel, thinking of themself as above all others, mortal or gods, as in their view they could decide who lived and who died, as well as which afterlife they would find themselves into.

This did not go well for their fellow gods, but they did nothing, for they still played their role in maintaining the natural order, making sure none should live beyond what they should. The rest of the council of Death also kept them in check, making sure no move too extreme took place.

That could only last so long, however , as none with such characteristics would suffer such checks and balances. One day, Red started experimenting in secret to create a way to subvert the natural cycle by bringing others back from the dead or keep them from dying, make those dependant on them alone for survival.

Such transgression would not go unpunished, however. As soon as the other gods learned of those secret experiments, they captured and brought Red to the head of the council of Judgement, the god of Judgement and Order. There, their crimes were exposed and judged deserving of the death penalty.

Before they could be executed, however, the god of Artifacts approached the one of Judgement with a proposition: as there still needs to be a god to manage the judgement and sorting of the souls. As such, they would use the essence of the god of Death and Judgement to create an artifact capable of granting the powers of a god to a mortal, while also sealing grand part of that deity away.

Thus was created the first Crown, holding power over both Death and Judgement, able to grant its power to its bearer. What no one knew, or cared, however, was that Red did not get erased. Their essence still exists within the Crown, like that of all the other gods that ended up as Crowns as well, yearning for revenge against those that, in their eyes, betrayed and ursuped them. They influence its bearer to seek control over life and death, and to kill all other gods so they can take their place as the one singular god above all others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the file went on, it started recounting some of the myths and legends about the ancient god of Death and Judgement, as well as how the Crown never found a bearer until it was received by a teen black panther after his family had ended killed as collateral damage during one of the early battles of the God Wars.

At that point, Narinder groans as he rubs his eyes with his right hand. The file is quite dense and the bright screen of the tablet is not as easy to read as the pages of a book. As he does, the sleeve of his robe slides down his arm, revealing the same chains he used earlier coiling themselves around his arm.

At this point, he is at Wolfgang's private study, a large room at the very top of the temple-library decorated with an anachronical miss match of items from several eras of development, ranging from classic era instruments of navigation, passing by medieval style representations of the globe and Victorian time keeping devices to modern and futuristic devices of the most varied functions. All of them little more than curios and old keepsakes from the rapid advancement of technology he promoted.

Speaking of the god of Technology, he is sitting by an open wootton desk, the holograms he is looking at a stark contrast to the vintage looking chest-drawer-desk amalgamation and the comfortable but almost as old looking reclining chair, pondering over the info being displayed.

Until the chains come into view, that is. His attention quickly snaps to the panther, ready to respond to any sudden offensive, before his glare turns into a more inquisitive gaze as there's no energy flowing in a way to indicate a curse being cast. 

"Pray tell, what reason do you have to show those chains again?" Wolfgang asks as he leans his head against his fist. 

Narinder looks tiredly at the Wolf, following his gaze to his arm before realization hits and he covers his arm, mortified over the realization that they are visible.

"What are they, after all?" Wolfgang inquires. "They clearly aren't regular chains."

"They are... Remnants of the chains that once bound me in the land of the dead that I eventually learned to control." Narinder replies, still embarrassed about showing something he considers so personal. "They linger for a while after each use."

Wolfgang hums at the information. "A prisoner's burden, then." He says as he leans back on the chair. 

"A what? The panther asks back, as the Wolf clearly knows more about it.

"Prisoner's burden, a term a scholar of mine specialized in curses came up with." The Wolf explains while gesticulating as he recalls the information. "It is the lingering energy of a curse that ties itself to the target's soul even after the original effect was broken. It allows the user to create and manipulate effects related to the parent curse, seal or any other long term effect, though it has a toll over the user as well. Like the chains you can summon."

"I see..." The panther responds, before looking at the chain links circling over the scar on his arm.

"By the way, not much luck on the search?" Wolfgang asks after a bit, as a indirect reminder at the time limit of the file. 

"Hmm? Oh, nothing we can use, I suppose." Narinder replies as his attention is taken away from his scars. "Specially since the one that made the Crown wasn't Chemach, but the god of Artifacts. The pattern in behavior seems to be older than the Crowns themselves, though." 

"I feared as much." Wolfgang replies with a sigh. "And to know there were Crowns even before the relic creator was making them... This just gets trickier by the minute..." 

There you have it, folks. The long awaited 13th chapter. First one to go up on AO3 before here too. Idk, the text editor there feels less clunky.

As always, separator by @lambouillet.

[resquices-of-godhood]

I forgot to add it here, but the migration process is complete and I already got my first Kudos in AO3. If all goes well, I'll be working on the next chapter soon enough.

[resquices-of-godhood]

I think it's important to remind ourselves of what we are dealing with in the fandom and the game from time to time, even if our focus are the silliness of the presentation or the absurdity of the situations that can come up. Never lose sight of what the real themes of the game are, lest you fall in their trap.

I'm in a very vunerable part of my life, and funny enough , this has caused a light paranoid resurgence in my fear of being indoctornated into a cult , somehow , someday. I'm not making this post to talk about personal fears but , in combination with cotl popping off on tumblr recently, i think it's good for everyone active in a fandom space to take a step back and actually briefly educate themselves on the true horrors of what we mainstream define as a "cult" and sometimes critically examine how fandom interprets(or misnterprets) canon depictions of cult hierarchies in game.

No one has to post a clear cut, professional layed out timeline to properly potray how awful their lamb/ocs are. This is also not an indirect attack to anyone who has ever drawn fluff/shipping content (stories are multifacated and dynamic and including "soft" character interactions doesn't mean the significance of story's message is watered down/romanticized. Quite the opposite , variety makes for a more impactful story). It also no one's responsibilty to create graphic horror content . Regardless , if you are going to be using canon material to tell you own story , i think it's important for all of us to remind ourselves that , at the end of the day, this is a cult we are speaking of- a higly totalitarian group that strips people off their humanity and dignity for the personal advantage of one person/group of people.

Cotl as a game is kind of light hearted with a few gap horror elements presented through a satyrical lense so by extension i don't expect people to fully delve into hardcore, realistic potrayals of cult life. I do think though it is important to keep in mind while making headcanons , ficlets,all kinds of transformative content,etc ,if you are going to attempt to delve deeper into worldbuilding , to make sure of potraying , at least partially, that a lot of fucked up things go down in Cult of the lamb, even if you're lamb isn't as evil as they could be in the game. Sermons , strick dress codes, rituals , dancing circles , re-education- all of those things are actual tactics used by real cults/high control groups to indoctornate and take advantage of people. The devs specifically researched about real cults and their workings for inspiration for the game. Under those circumstances the lamb and the bishops will always be inherently abusive people.

[resquices-of-godhood]

And now one for our big bad wolf. This will be quite long because there's a lot to cover and he is a character that is still active in the story, unlike his predecessor.

Wolfgang, The Wolf: his name means "traveling wolf" in old German, which is a good representation of his years between reaching maturity and finding the Gray Crown.

Originally from a wolf tribe from the continent of Euhera, there was a custom where someone only received their name after finding their calling, usually after a ritual that involved smoking hallucinogenic herbs. Still called cub at the time, he decided to take another route when he reached the age to go through the usual ritual, at the age of 15, instead traveling the land to find his purpose as a trial instead, a much riskier and longer process.

For the following years, he traveled across the region his tribe used to reside, adopting the moniker of traveler for that time. Around the sixth year of his journey, he found under a rocky overhang by a river the still unliving Averitt in his derelict and barely functional Necroframe, holding a barely surviving Gray Crown from the very little devotion coming from him. A sight many would keep distance, the wolf's curiosity drove him instead to approach the figure. In a broken accent of the local common language, learned by occasional exposure as passers by came and went, Averitt offers the Crown to the wolf and instructs him to put it on.

Now with the knowledge and powers of the Gray Crown, the wolf manages to understand the undead moose and is able to provide very basic repairs to, at the very least, allow him to move again. And so, with so much knowledge and power, he decides it is time to return to his tribe, feeling that he can't find his calling anymore through journey alone.

By the time he arrives back months later, his body has already started developing the characteristic six eyes and he is still learning how to properly use them all together. Upon his arrival, he talks to the tribe's leader and elder, to request their permission to go through the ritual so much later than usual. Both notice the changes and the Crown, and are wary of what it might mean for the nameless wolf, but allow him to go through the process, given some preparations. With some of the warriors taking position outside the hut they would be using for safety, the elder brings him inside for the process.

Averitt, who was ordered not to approach before, sees the movement around the hut and, assuming it to be an ambush, disregards the orders to go try and, in his mind, rescue his master's replacement. This happens just as the wolf is about to receive the ritual pipe with the herbs, interrupting the process. Having a feeling that his orders were disobeyed, the wolf runs out of the hut and orders the Necroframe to stop.

After reinforcing the importance that there be no further interference in the process, he then turns to the tribe leader and begs for forgiveness over what happened. The attack was not his intention, specially during such a sacred rite to their people. After the two heads of the tribe convene over what happened, they decide that the ritual may be attempted again after the wounded warriors have a chance to recover and be healed, something the wolf offers to help with.

Once again, the knowledge offered by the Crown vastly hasten the process, offering techniques, remedies and healing magic so far not available in the region. He passes through that knowledge to the tribe's healer for approval, who, in his eyes, is much more experienced with the usual process, who is impressed at how they never thought of even half of the ideas offered. During the month of recovery it took to get things back to a point where the ritual could be attempted again, a period of time Averitt spent waiting outside the tribe as a sentry protecting it, the wolf offered more knowledge to many others in the village, hoping to improve their lives and lighten their duties. He even came up with some of his first inventions during that time.

At the second attempt at the ritual, as the wolf receives the pipe, he contemplates over the events since he departed his tribe, and, as he is about to partake of the herb's smoke, he sighs and returns the pipe to the elder, claiming that he might not need to go through the visions most do, as he might have finally found his calling. The elder nods, taking the pipe back without anger or agitation. Though rare, some cubs never need to actually inhale the smoke to find their calling. And such, they ask the wolf for their name.

And he decides that, through all that happened, Wolfgang shall be it from now on, the traveling wolf that found knowledge where no one dared venture.

From then on, he started the process to settle back into his tribe, Averitt being accepted as an honorary member, if warily, by the tribe as he was bound to service to the Crown. As time passes, more and more of the wolfs of the tribe come to appreciate, then worship the knowledge being provided by the Crown, slowly becoming a Crown cult through sheer exposure to it. Soon, indoctrinations start to happen for those pledging themselves to the Crown, and, as the tribe expands into a village, then a town, rumors of a sage with impossible knowledge spreads through the surrounding region through trade. Soon enough, members of other species come to pledge themselves to the Crown, while Wolfgang's hut grows into a bigger and bigger library.

As he reaches the stage of a Bishop, the conversion of tribe into cult is all but complete, and so, the Wolf now starts expanding his influence over the land, garnering more followers through offers of knowledge, up until he encounters the first cult not centered around a Crown in his path. As they refuse to have a pacific coexistence, subjugation through superior technological might becomes the only way forwards. Of course, he tries to document anything he can from such cults, doing his best to not allow any knowledge to be permanently destroyed if he can help it, and it's where he starts to learn more rituals and spells. The same happens to the dark sorcerers of the land, as they too refuse cooperation and knowledge sharing.

Nearing his first century of life, seeing his tribe's culture being slowly consumed and assimilated by his cult, and as such feeling more and more isolated despite how many people worship him, he decides to take his first wife. Many tried to marry him in the past, but he lacked the interest. A night of the passion wasn't out of the table, but he couldn't find the right connection for anything deeper until that point.

Sophie, a deer that had joined the cult just a decade earlier and showed remarkable intelligence caught his attention at the time. At first, he thought it might just be another promising Disciple prospect, someone that could, like many before, fulfill the duties of scholar without difficulty. What he didn't notice at the time, however, is that there was more to her than just her intelligence. She was, and still is, observant and has good interpersonal skills, enough to catch her master's increasing detachment from mortal life. Through her interactions, she was the one to start to slow down the process, though it would take more to reverse the course of those changes. More importantly, she was the first to manage to create the connection that was missing. And so, she became his first wife.

Of course, a mortal life is but a spec in comparison to that of a deity's. Wolfgang came to the same realization when Sophie became ill later in her life due to her then old age. The prospect of losing something so dear to him at the same time the last few natural wolfs from his tribe were also aging and dying out drove him to look for something to save at least her, if nothing else. He hadn't lost his morals, so he dismissed the Necroframes straight out of the gate, even as Averitt assured it was the only way known to him to preserve someone. The Wolf would not give such a fate to a loved one, however. If there wasn't an alternative, then he would create one.

And so, through months of toil, research and tests using souls that lingered in a land without a god of Death in a race against time, he came up with the very first apostle chip. Little more than a talisman, these were the very first item to ever allow a soul to interact with mechanisms outside of its receptacle and vice versa. All he needed was a body for the inhabitant to control, but the hard part was done. Still, Sophie's condition didn't improve, so he knew he had to act fast.

The first apostle unit was little more than a mechanical marionette made in his wife's visage, something to work as a platform for something better later on. A small breakthrough in making possible to remove an apostle chip safely later and he was ready to present his work to Sophie.

She was obviously scandalized at first, horrified even, but as Wolfgang tried to explain the inner workings and mechanisms to her, she only had one question back: why? Why go so far as to defy the natural order of the world? What was the intent behind it? She would not accept it for the sake of progress alone.

Wolfgang didn't have an answer then. He didn't understand it himself the why he spent so much time and energy in trying to preserve life like he was trying to, only that something drove him to.

He was distraught, for the first time in so long, he didn't have an answer and the Crown couldn't provide none either. The fact he couldn't find an answer was eating at him almost as much at the rejection. He had to figure it out, somehow.

But, as he paced around in the cult grounds, an elderly wolf lady called for him, asking what could be making a god like him so agitated. Wolfgang tried to say it wasn't something that a mortal could understand, but she replied that her great grandfather used to say that a young wolf once proved that answers might be found in the most unlikely of places. She was, after all, the last living descendant of the tribe's leader that welcomed him back.

After listening to his plight on a nearby bench, she weighted in what wisdom age brought her. The answer he was looking for wasn't based in reason. Looking for one there would do no good to him or anyone around him. After all, he wasn't born a god, so it stands to reason that, perhaps, he should try looking at the problem from the angle of a mortal. And thus, the step to stop him from leaving his mortal mindset behind was taken. Even if he was mortal no longer, there are reasons to still think like one. She also assured that, though the tribe may be no more soon enough, the cult is now his tribe and his lair, and he shouldn't distance himself from it. Thanking her words of wisdom, he returns to talk to his wife, now knowing the reason behind his work.

After seating down by Sophie's side and explaining that all that work he has done is because he doesn't want to lose her, being honest to her and his emotions, she sighs and says that she will put her faith in his work, but only if she has input on the process. That mechanical marionette seriously unnerved her. He assured that she would.

Some changes here and there to make the unit less... Terrifying, for lack of a better word, and add some features that he hasn't thought of in the first place. There just wasn't much that could be done before Sophie's health took a turn for the worse, and they were forced to do the ritual as things were. The unit could be exchanged later, but it would be for naught if she died before that.

Nerve wracking moments aside from the actual first test of the new ritual made from the amalgamation of two others, the whole procedure was a success and Sophie found her soul into the apostle chip. Wolfgang's apprehension only subsided when said ship found itself in the unit's socket and the first Apostle came into being. Over the centuries, she would go through many units as technology evolved, but that's a story for another day.

With that out of the way and most of the continent under his control, godly ambition made him look over the horizon. At the century and a half mark of his development, It was time to start exploring over the seas. It was a slow, methodical kind of exploration, instead of sailing blindly to lands far away, taking decades over many expeditions to find new land, and even longer to reach the first continent. By the time the first ship landed in the northern region of Phemura, the tricentennial of Wolfgang's tenure as a god was approaching. It is during this period he implants his cybernetic eyes.

A few months later, the first ship loaded with supplies to set a colony arrived, and in it was the Wolf himself, wishing to survey the new discovered lands. They barely had time to set the basic necessities before the gods of the Old Faith started to get involved. Comparing them with the Crown's previous knowledge and seeing how they have gone so far as to imprison one they considered their brother apparently for the sake of power and control just made any and all appeal of godhood disappear, and with it the ambitions that are involved. Still, he had a duty to those that worshipped him already, so a solution needed to be reached. Luckily, Shamura was reasonable enough to negotiate with, and so the expansion into new continents come to an end. Well, not before reports of another ship finding a third continent, but it was still early enough to order the colonization vessel to turn around and return.

With all that done, Wolfgang decided that he should never lose sight of what it is like to be a mortal, so, from then on, for a week each year he locks his divine self away in stasis and walk among the mortals with a mortal avatar of his own. No godly powers, no quick access to the Crown, just the traveling wolf that once found a derelict Necroframe. This helped shape the direction of development of technology under him, focusing in the greatest utility for his subjects, but never forgetting their safety.

Since his first marriage, and with Sophie's approval for the practice, he had several spouses throughout the centuries. Some became Apostles like her, others preferred to just pass to the afterlife. He still loved them all the same.

On the Apostle front, not just his spouses found themselves ascending to become one. Many Disciples were selected for the process so their knowledge and expertise could be preserved even beyond the survival of their bodies. Not all were suited for immortality, however, and eventually asked to be freed from their chips to proceed to the afterlife, something Wolfgang did with great sadness, but didn't deny their most devoted followers their rightful rest. Still, as time went and technology evolved, better and more advanced chips were produced for new Apostles. Unfortunately for the older ones, transfer between chips is not possible. They do not fulfill the requirements to perform the ritual.

So, for the next 563 years since his departure from Phemura, his entire focus was on making his territory prosper, as well as protecting the few regions that chose to not be integrated, but did not try to work against him. One of those regions was even set up as sheep immigrated to Euhera during the culling and wanted to maintain their culture and way of life, though he welcomed any that wished to join the society that grew under his influence as well.

That was when the treaty signed with Shamura crumbled into dust. The situation came as quite a shock and Wolfgang started to prepare to go to Voxport's defense while listening for any reports of an attack. None came. All was quiet in the Old Faith's front. Too quiet.

Getting in contact with them himself, he learned about the crusades done by a bearer of the Red Crown. The pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place as he listened to the report. Shamura had fallen, as had the Old Faith as a whole, and the forgotten fifth Bishop was about to return.

But, once again, things didn't pan out as expected. A millennium old prophecy was brought up by Baines, who moved to Euhera about three and a half centuries prior, and the picture became clear. At the same time, no reports of The One Who Waits making his presence known meant that he too fell. There were no gods of the Old Faith left, and so he would be dealing with an entirely new pantheon. Better give them time to settle in and learn their behaviors to negotiate later.

Or he would have done that, if the seasons weren't starting to get back into play. The situation was getting from bad to worse, he needed to make a move and soon to not be caught unprepared. So, after approaching Baines to be the announcer to their visit to Phemura, he orders the preparation for immediate departure to the continent of the Old Faith. He knows not what kind of gods he will deal with, so he prepares his followers for what would be traditional in the times of his predecessor on the journey, hoping to build bridges and gather allies instead of enemies.

And with his arrival, the Au begins.

[resquices-of-godhood]

a contract is a contract is a contract (but only between Ferengi). Anyways, I promised to bring the info on the Gray Crown's bearers to here, so here we go, starting with Theodoar, the former god of Knowledge during the God Wars.

Theodoar: They Who Know, driven mad by knowledge, felled in a single strike. Theodoar used to be a very large six eyed green tortoise, whose shell had several depictions of tools and weapons that denoted the unstoppable advance of technology, something new appearing whenever it was invented. Despite being just a few years younger than Shamura, they weren't a particularly powerful deity when it came to raw power, but what they lacked in that regard they more than made up for it with versatility and adaptability, so much so that they were one of the few to be able to manifest their Crown's grimoire at the time when more powerful deities weren't able to.

Not everything were roses, however. Theodoar focused a lot more in acquiring knowledge than anything else than their replacement millennia later, and so they dove deep into learning things that should have been left alone, even spending a considerable amount of time with the Relic creator Chemach. Such a time spent with someone whose domains contain madness is sure to drive anyone else insane as well, and so the god of Knowledge and Technology developed a singular obsession with development at all costs and an abhorrence to stagnation that eroded any sense of morality of what they were doing. In their mind, the world needed to be developed, and they were the only one that could do the job.

Due to that singular drive, the cult of Knowledge of the time came with great, and terrible, advancements. One of the most terrifying being the constructs known as Necroframes, bipedal walkers constructed around a casket housing the undead remains of followers made for waging war. Most were equipped with huge curse repeaters, weapons that shot curse fire without needing a direct source of fervor. Each also had an artillery mode, where the frame would turn and unfold to reveal even more weaponry, the most devastating being the grave cannon, a big barrel located at the back of the unfolded frame that shot explosive curses capable of cracking even the most durable of defenses.

Their forces used to be the single biggest threat to any pantheon, up until the last century of the God Wars, where Thodoar was killed by Narinder during their last confrontation against the Old Faith.

Theodoar's Crown was the Gray Crown, which lords over the domains of Knowledge (information) and Technology (invention). It lacks much of a personality, preferring to act more as an interface to its Akashic Records and as tools for its user, but if forced to take charge, it acts as an eccentric but strict college professor. Its abilities are Akashic Records and Touch of the Inventor. The former is a repository of any and all information the Crown has ever come across, and in a way a library-like dimension of its own that connects all multiverses that have a version of this Gray Crown, with their shared knowledge in their own respective sections. The later gives the ability to replicate any inventions out of any materials available, though they don't tend to hold together for long after their intended use. There are no registered Resquices of Godhood for either ability at the moment as neither of the bearers have lost connection to the Crown and lived to tell the tale, but they would manifest in a limited access to the Akashic Records without the Gray Crown's interface and anything created through Touch of the inventor breaks apart after a single use.

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and now I added a section on the Gray crown that I will be transcribing here later. May the gods have mercy on my soul for what I brought upon myself.

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I expanded the lore in AO3 today and made a subcollection for anyone that might want, for some reason, contribute with stories of their own using the concepts of the AU, or at least from Cult of the Lamb.

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Okay, I managed to get some things set up, but it's getting late as I had to do plenty of revisions there. You'd be surprised how many typos and minor writing errors you catch up when revisiting old chapters. I'm also doing some updating to get things more up to date to current lore, getting things more consistent.

In any case, I have copied all of the crown bearers' lore, and will be working on revising the world building stuff in the coming weeks. For now, have a link to the collection that will eventually contain the whole thing: Ao3 RoG repository. You will need an account to read it, however. You know, to avoid AI companies from profiting from my hard work.

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AO3 Account acquired

please hold while I figure out how the site works for creators

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I came to the same conclusion recently too. He seems like the type to know exactly which buttons to press to get his partners going at any given time.

talking with partner about kallamar

i say hes a switch

even before being mortal he was versatile as fuck

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I want to respect their privacy, but I have reason to believe it was Wank who deleted their own account, and it was not nuked by staff. So I don't think you have to worry about posting NSFW chapter links.

If this is true, that still sucks, but I'll respect their decision. That being said, I'll still be looking for alternatives, just to be safe.

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in light of what happened with wank, I'm starting to reconsider if the path forward is to post NSFW chapters here on tumblr, which means that they won't be part of the main story so I'm not forced to skip chapters containing such themes. I'm sorry, I know it's not you guys voted for, but it's either that or risk losing the blog as well :(

hey is it just me or did theonewhowanks get nuked? :(

OH SHIT DUDE NO WAY

FUCK

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Interesting... *takes up notes*

Fun idea. What if YOU were the mystic seller for your AUs and you got to make a Mystic seller sona

I have a guy on my original art blog that would work pretty good but I think I would want something slightly different

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