(OCs) In world cult - info dump

Winter blog entry #11

Estimated time to read: 3-4 minutes

Today I want to talk more about a topic I barely licked while introducing my OCs (specifically Troy) - The cult, Apostles of Bleeding Sky!

Let's start with the basics, why that name?

Apostles mean devoted followers, believers, people who would do anything without as much as a blink of an eye.

Bleeding Sky, that's a name that adapted to call the God they worship. Real name is unknown, the placeholder functions in the community not to call the God's real name, as much as they worship and cherish the God, they don't want it's attention. They're scared. The name came from the belief that when the God will come the sky will fall apart, the realities bleeding into each other. The horizonless space will came crushing down, melting off, revealing the God.

What's the rituals?

During eclipse a bishop is chosen to see beyond the reality they live in. Their eye sight is taken away in a ceremonial way, it's a very important even and every order in the area gathers to witness it, the bishop's eyes are pierced with a dagger, then eaten (by the bishop).

After the ceremony of blinding he's bathed by deacons in blood gathered from victims of the laity (like Troy).

Next step is getting into ceremonial robes with the help of deacons while priests are chanting. When dressed the bishop joins the priests in chants and they form an procession. They go into a cave that's considered sacred, the bishop spends the night there and enterence is guarded by the priests.

As the morning comes archbishops arrive and go inside the cave where they murder and feast on the bishop, gaining the knowledge, experience and enlightenment the bishop obtained by the ritual.

Another one of their rituals take place during storms, it's when a few members, most commonly laity, (although all are welcome to do so) gather on a clearing in the woods and sing God praising melodies, it's not much of a ritual but more of a bonding experience that makes faith, community and morals stronger.

During bad winters they carry fire to other place of worship. The long walk can take days or even weeks, depending on which place they visit.

The journey is accompanied by chants, stories and occasional meals. The fire itself being just a burning cloth wrapped around wood, the piece often resending a star. When the fire goes out the priest responsible for keeping the fire going gets stripped from their ritual clothes and are burned on the wood, another priest from the procession gets the privilege of keeping the fire. The only way the fire can be put down is when it gets drenched in blood at the place of worship the cult made a point of visiting.

Those who can't afford to finish the journey due to exhaustion or injury are either left or killed. At rare times when the cult struggles to have satisfying number of followers they help the struggling believer, however they're shamed for not being strong enough for their God. If the believer happens to be some able to carry a child there's two possibilities, helped and shamed, or helped to get into the place of worship, amputate limbs and get the "honor" or carrying archbishop's child (of course, I do not support that, writing about it ≠ glorifying/supporting (can't believe I have to say it but media literacy is so low...)).

The cult has a weekly mass, the followers are allowed to skip it without explanation, but only once a month. If the situation when there has been a second absence come up, the follower has to give a reason deemed good enough, in case of not providing one or not important enough, the person is going to prove their devotion again by going through the entry trial again (it's on Troy's story in my other post, here's a link: BLOG ENTRY).

A day to day live by follower like Troy (a laity) is simple, attend masses, take part in rituals and gatherings, be an active member of the cult, catch at least one victim in half an year time (that's two victims a year minimum), follow the rules.

What rules?

Some rules aren't worth mentioning, obvious stuff like:

- don't worship other God

- don't badmouth your God

- be devoted to your God

- keep the existence of the cult a secret

- etc.

There's of course less obvious rules like:

- don't date outside of your religion

- don't consume flesh of a rabbit as it's considered holy

- don't cause harm to animals

- if you can't live with nature, you don't deserve to live at all

- the sky isn't silent, listen

Thank y'all for reading! I hope you had enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it (if not more).

Feel free to ask questions in the comments, I might answer them in update or simply in replies (depends on how many questions are there and how long the answer is, I will respond in five days maximum).

I might post an update with picures, so be patient please!

Have a good day/night!

Comments are happily received!