In H P Lovecraft's universe what do the cultists really receive for their suffering? It seems either nothing at all or some minor boons, nothing worth the cost. I don't understand why you'd serve something that hates you so much for nothing in return.
>>98348981Accelerationists, they think the world is doomed, so they want to change it/end it faster to spare everybody unnecessary suffering. In some cases, they expect to either be assimilated by whatever being they are summoning or something like that.
>>98348981Depends what they're worshipping. Here are some possibilities:* Power in the run-up to the inevitable destruction of the Earth* Power, plus the belief that the stars will not be right in their lifetime or that the entity can be summoned and then kept in a big jar or 1920s electric prison* "Get out of eternal torment free" card if you were on the right team before armageddon* Seeing the entity convinces you of its transcendent splendour, how could you _not_ worship it* Becoming convinced that humanity is deserving of extinction and working to further that end* Fundamental misunderstanding of the entity worshipped (belief that it's an angel, departed loved one, etc.)* Non-human lineage (Deep One hybrids, etc.)
regular religions receive even less than that
>>98348981Cthulhu doesn't hate you, he's disinterested at best.As for what you get in return, when he arrives you'll experience emotions such as no one has before, pleasure beyond comprehension, pain beyond understanding, knowledge and ignorance, creativity and mindlessness, a melting pot of everything mankind can be and more.Why do some people do meth anon? Why do some people get a thrill killing hookers and dumping their bodies?Why do you enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the morning?Why do some people let others whip them, or choke them until they almost pass out, or get surgery to the point where they look like parodies of men?There's men out there who'd suck a mile of cock for a hit on the crack pipe and the strongest, purest cocaine in the world would be nothing compared to the moment of seeing Cthulhu awaken from his charnel bed and rise above the horizon.And shit, it's going to happen regardless of if you do anything or not.So why not strap in and ride the tiger?Come with me anon.Maybe he'll even spare some of us, when it's all over, to live eternal in the borderlands beyond the bounds of human experience, and if he does do you think it'll be those who did something for him or those that didn't?All you've got to do is give up the lie. Civilization, laws, morality, wearing pants, ect, none of it is real.Embrace the true way.May I interest you in a pamphlet?
>>98349305They offer you eternal salvation, I don't think the old ones do the same.
>>98350010>Florida man apprehended while "shouting and killing and revelling in joy"
>>98350014they give the *promise* of eternal salvation, which I'm sure Lovecraft cults also grant in some capacity
>>98350127See, it's easy to get yourself into the headspace of a cultist.That's without even mentioning despair, ruination, spite for your fellow man, power, ect, ect.Shit, watch this, I'll convince at least 2d6 fa/tg/uys that they'd be willing to be cultists in the CoC setting right now with 5 words:Cult Mandated Deep One Pussy
>>98350209Most don't promise that stuff from what I've read, some my be fed that lie but I don't think it's unanimous.
>>98350284Lovecraft doesn't go into detail about the belief systems of the cults. In The Call of Cthulhu their exposition is mainly provided by the cops who stumble upon their twisted midnight orgies.
>>98348981>I don't understand why you'd serve something that hates you so much for nothing in returnyou understand that the mythos gods at beast see their worshippers as little more than protozoa floating around a small pond somewhere, but most of the in setting folks do not. see >>98349073I think it can be reduced to two simple categories; those who are somehow related to the mythos (like the Innsmouth people or the Whateleys) and those who don't. The former have at least some grasp of what's truly going on and try to make the best of it while it lasts, and at the same time they believe that at least some might be spared once the end comes or have some sort of privilege in the new, monstruous order to comethe later are mostly ignorant of what's actually going on or have a deluded vision of it, either thinking they can climb up the pile of human misery and come up on top, or believing their worship might actually have some effect and grant them power to somehow avoid the fate of all other mortals
>>98348981what does any religion?promises and community. fucking retard
>>98350223sold
>>98350223>>98350822>3rd Oath.jpgGranted, it was an August Derleth story but he did write a story about a guy who was related to the families of Innsmouth but was sold on it by the stonussy of a statue he carved out of some weird sea stone.
>>98348981Eaten first comic.
>>98350822>>98350852All I'm going to say is that Fish pussy isn't the only type of pussy you can get in the Lovecraft world if you're willing to side with the unspeakable.Money pussy, snake pussy, black pussy, goat-legged MILF pussy, it's all on the table.Come to the cults, we got https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYXlK-Dktnk
>>98350866That's what I love about the mythos stories. The hints inbetween the line of all the sexual non-sense that goes on behind the scenes.Catching the hemi-peen of a snake god? Check.Engaging in coitous with the dead and undead? Check.Channeling the powers of a transcended god and popping your daughter's cherry? Check.Fucking your father in law whose possessed the body of his deep one hybrid daughter? Check.
>>98350378Ephraim Waite was a normal guy trying to powergame the Mythos. He learnt sorcery, got a deep one wife and impregnated her, did body swaps for immortality and might even have gotten away with it.
>>98350920>Normal guyWe don't even know if the dude was ever Human originally. It's implied he's body hopped several times before jumping into his fish daughter.
>>98348981and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His rule of earth. The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. They're just delusional.
>>98350223Curiosity is one hell of a drug.
>>98351002You're gonna sauce that, right?
>>98351063it's a full uncropped page, reverse image search should pick it up just fine
>>98351063It looks like Asanagi
>>98348981>Zoomer too young to know about UFO death cultsNot sure if I feel pity or jealously In the mindframe of cultists, they are either doing humanity a favour or they are gaining personal favours. It doesn't matter what they are actually doing. It matters what they think and believe they are doing.Dunno, never met a schizoid?
>>98351076close, someone similarly (in)famous
>>98351083Then I'm drawing a blank unless you're telling me Asanagi didn't make Metamorphosis.
>>98351099I'm telling you Asanagi didn't make Metamorphosis. That would be either Publius Ovidius Naso or Franz Kafka, depending on which one you mean.
>>98351111Yes, you are correct. The actual author is Shindo L
>>98351121glad we figured it out
>>98348981There is no "Lovecraft universe". At most, you get the interpretation of the authors - Providence man himself REALLY doesn't seem to have something akin to a global standard for cultists. Maybe for sorcerers, but cultists? Nah.Barring whatever filmsy explanations Chaosium might or might not have, we have three actual instances of cutlists (plural) in the original works:1) Cthulhu cult. They seem to be degenerates from birth that crave the feeling of the baddest motherfucking rave ever (every saturday at your local swamp or something like that). Not really much more, especially not plans.(They aren't necessarily stupid, Castro knows his shit, but let's say their plan to go into R'lyeh doesn't seem too planned off)2) Innsmouth cult. Now this is interesting: aside from the mention of shoggoth plans (which might or might not be true) they are about living undetected, on the whole. They aren't actively malicious to the world, just to the innsmouthers/humans in there. Imagine a non-expanding organized crime racket and you might have an idea.That, and having to marry humanoid fishes, I guess.3) Starry Wisdom. The most superficially similar to the stereotyped cult, but the most obscure one. They worshipped Nyarlathotep in a church with your usual bookshelf of tomes and were disbanded because of the kidnappings that took place. They even had your old artifact of doom, but we can't really see what were their motives and plans.Your guess is as good as mine as what they got in return: they seem to have had SOMETHING, but it's never spelled out.
>>98348981many writers/gms aren't actually good at justifying the existence of enemies in their writing.they lean on the fact that readers/players expect certain enemies to just show up, and take their existence for granted.>goblins and bandits in the woods>cultists in the sewers and government buildings>monsters in the caves and dungeonsFocusing in on the cultists thing, people join cults because a Cult provides them with something they are sorely lacking, to the point they are willing to put up with a bunch of bullshit to get it. Cults IRL are often made up of sad lonely people with very little. Cults IRL provide a sense of community and a shared purpose primarily, but also other emotional things, like being part of an "elite group" with "secret knowledge".Now imagine a world where the secret knowledge can actually do stuff. Imagine if Charles Manson had magic powers and summoned some Shoggoths after the murders.If you want to create a cult that "makes sense", it's pretty easy. Create someone who somehow gets a piece of Mythos Lore. Mythos Lore has a tangible effect on reality, reciting a phrase or drawing an image can make people feel things even if nothing else happens.Now give this Cult Leader a goal that could be satisfied if they had people to help them. Maybe the Cult Leader just wants to fuck people's wives, and mooch off donations. So he uses his Mythos Lore to lure stupid young girls to his hippie ranch where they take drugs, have sex, and then he pulls out the Mythos Lore bit and stirs their brains a little with it.Or maybe it's a Cult Leader with a little bit more Mythos Lore. A would be wizard, who has found a grimoire with some magic spells to do a bunch of cool shit... except many of the spells require expensive materials, and a few human sacrifices. So he goes around homeless camps, promising he can cure them of whatever has ruined their lives, if they join his little "group".https://youtu.be/zvVHPVe525Q
>>98348981Usually death and madness.It's not like they tell you what you're in for.Take as an example the "church" that was experimenting with The Shining Trapezohedron.They all gathered under an occultist who believed they could use it to contact entities outside normal reality, and he was right.They began to experiment with it, and slowly, it began to change them.By the time The Haunter In The Dark was capable of manifesting mid-ritual to vanish the participants, they had all started to go quite mad from exposure to the Trapezohedron and it's powers.
>>98348981First, they're insane.Second, purpose.Third, magic and incredibly powerful allies.Fourth, they're insane.
>>98348981people in real, actual life join cults that actively make their lives fucking awful, kill their friends and family, abuse them physically, take all their money, and destroy their social existence outside of the cult, and they will be fucking diehard about it. Aum Shinrikio is about on par with your average Cthulhu cult, the only difference being that the insane rambling guy at the head of the organization was actually communing with outer intelligence (that we know of).
>>98348981Imagine you are living in a shitty family with domestic and sexual abuse and suddenly a group where everyone call you bro is not so bad to stay.
>>98352574>>98352360>The desperate and abused looking for control>>98350223>>98350822>>98350852>>98350866>>98350912>The degenerate hedonists that know they'll be able to use their power to do what they can't under any other circumstances>>98350010>The absolutely bugfuck insaneWell that about covers the three legs of the cult tripod.Let's make sure to never buy a compound together lads.
>>98348981They are insane.
In the old Call of Cthulhu story, most if not all of the cultists are from various non-white ethnic groups. Blacks, Hispanics and various mixed people in the American south, indigenous people in Greenland, island peoples in the Pacific, mention of others in China, etc. Now, apart from HPL being notorious for being all racist and shit, there is a certain logic there, in that these are all peoples who are unhappy with the white, Anglo-American dominated world power structure who would be eager to latch onto anything that could potentially overthrow it, no matter how insane. Look at the Ghost Dance movement or the Boxer Rebellion, or the rise of Islamic terrorism. Or the Nazi party, come to that.
>>98348981
>>98354797>Oh lawdy the injuns are dancing again, get yer rifles
>>98355238Honestly the cultists here would make for terrible terrorists. Hell, they even kinda do in the story, as they let slip critical infos on them.
>>98348981If you’re going with original Call of Chtulhu Cthulhu thinks he’s libesrting humanity and hands out dark spells and new demon friends like they were candy. You’ll be an insane monster but you’rein the winning side. Because Cthulhu’s victory is pre-determined. Eventually humanity will go insane and crack his jar open and let him out so they can really party.
>>98355889>thinks he’s libesrting humanityWait? No, he doesn't. Castro says he will revel in the degenerate humanity of the future, teach us new way to kill and revel oursevelves, but not only this isn't correlated with the great old ones wanting anything more than being free themselves, there is no mentions of spells or whatever gifts.Also, humanity is not (clearly) the cause of the GOO resurrection. Big point, actually.
>>98355224I'm surprised it took so long for someone to post this but I'm glad someone did.
>>98350920you have a point there, but becoming a body snatching ghoul kind of sets him apart from the rest of humanity, and he's still partially related to the mythos tooI wonder what the old ones would make of him tho, being a mortal that has sort of trascended mortality and all
>>98350920Yeah, some wizards actually manage to win or close to. Not cultists, tough. This is clearly HPL atheism: you have cultists and sorcerers and the two don't really mingle much. The cultists are sheep-minded simpletons that more often than not are fucked over and don't understand shit, blinded by religious bullshit; the isolated sorcererers do undertsand your usual cosmic bleakness, and their evilness has an interesting "outsider opposing the beliefs of religion" qualities that surely Lovecraft at some level felt. Of course some sorcerers masked it well enough (Curwen) and some were already squarely in the "fuck you and your bullshit" department from the start (Old Man Whateley).(he KINDA goes out of the mold in latter tales, but not much)
>>98356430Why are the usual rapey Deep Ones always male? In HPL story apparently they were more female.
>>98356745Taps into the subconscious fear of men from over there coming over here and knobbing our womenfolk.No one is particularly concerned about our men going over there and knobbing their women folk for obvious reasons.
>>98357708Because no one was ready for the awakening of sticking your dick in a female fish monster
