#askcrescentcult

[loominggaia]

Gonna tell my grandkids this is the Overlord of the Crescent Cult

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[loominggaia]

Interesting to learn Morgause & Disgrace are, for lack of a better term, acquaintances. How deep does this relationship go, and how do Unseelie’s peoples/monsters feel about it?

Morgause had no idea who Disgrace was until he literally appeared on her doorstep. He had heard of her, of course, because she was the most famous necromancer on Gaia. He was quite a passionate necromancer himself and wanted to seek her help with training, troops, enchanted weapons, and so on. He was prepared to make serious deals with a powerful kingdom, but he didn't quite know what to expect when he flew into the Unseelie Court for the first time.

Morgause saw a huge fleet of mysterious armed men and undead heading towards her castle and said "oh hell naw", personally running outside to blast them into oblivion. But when she laid eyes on Disgrace, it was love at first sight...well, not "love" exactly, because monsters aren't capable of it. It was more like an intense, all-consuming lust that has gripped her by her shriveled ovaries ever since that fateful day...she thought the Overlord was the hottest thing on Gaia, and she proposed marriage within 10 minutes of meeting him.

Disgrace accepted her proposal, but only in exchange for troops and gold. Morgause gladly handed over a fat load of resources and had an impromptu wedding that night. Unfortunately for her, Disgrace still had business to manage back in the Serkel Desert, so he could not stay and be her king (not that he wanted to anyway). She bid him a dramatic farewell, but said he was welcome back so long as she remained on the throne.

So, yes...Disgrace is legally married to Morgause. She is also married to like 40 other dudes, so that doesn't mean much, but she does consider him her favorite husband because he is the only divine one. Their marriage is only legally recognized in Unseelie Court, other Great Kingdoms won't even acknowledge it.

Some Unseelie people are disgusted by Morgause's marriage to this high-profile terrorist, but most of them are so fatigued and so used to her crazy bullshit, they're just like "Yeah, that's classic Morgie...". Her other husbands are a collection of warlords, crime bosses, and other scumbags, so this is no surprise to them.

As for Disgrace, he hates Morgause. He truly despises her, thinks she's repulsive, and resents every second he has to spend around her. But she's officially his sugar momma, the one with the big money he needs for his operations, and the only Great Ruler who doesn't tell him to fuck off, so he has to play nice with her once in a while. She looks forward to his visits like Christmas morning, meanwhile he's dreading it like a root canal. They have a really funny dynamic imo.

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[loominggaia]

I'm surprised the Cresent cult actually followed through on killing Warud's king. How much power do they have? Do the other kingdoms make deals with them?

They actually do crap like this all the time! Mostly in Yerim-Mor Kingdom though. They have a much harder time getting away with it in the other Great Kingdoms. That's just because Yerim-Mor is such an unstable mess and the cult already has a strong foothold there.

But yes, the Crescent Cult has small branches in foreign kingdoms as well. These foreign cultists are usually pretty discreet and do the cult stuff on the downlow, living secret double-lives. So, the cult has some soft power here and there. They can meddle in politics, embezzle money from corporations, stuff like that. But in their homeland of Yerim-Mor, they just burst into government buildings, arrows flying and swords swangin'. If they pulled that crap in Zareen, they'd get their shit pushed in by dudes in power armor.

The Karenzans and Retaliators are the main forces keeping the cult at bay in Yerim-Mor currently. The Morite military...kinda tries to defend the kingdom? A little bit? But they're being cucked so hard by King Roz and his "don't poke the bear" strategy, they can't always go as far as they'd like.

I would say the Crescent Cult actually could take over all of Yerim-Mor at this point, if only its leaders would learn to cooperate better. Alas, they're a bunch of traitorous, power-grubbing degenerates who constantly fuck each other over to get ahead in the cult hierarchy. They are ironically their own biggest roadblock to success.

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[loominggaia]

Random thought...

I think Matuzu Kingdom actually has reason to tolerate the Kaconenans to some degree, because the Kaconenans are their first line of defense against the Crescent Cult. In fact, the Kaconenans are uniquely positioned to deal with the cult very effectively.

The Cult is based in the Serkel Desert. Kaconenan territory stretches across the entire savannah, just south of the desert. The Cult does travel by air sometimes, but that's expensive, so usually they're on land. Kaconenans can't do much to flying targets, they mostly prey on land travellers...but they're extremely good at it. They use speed, walls of arrows, magical illusions, and swarming tactics to overwhelm even larger groups than themselves.

A LOT of money flows through Matuzu via trade caravans. Both the Cult and the Kaconenans want a piece of these caravans. Kaconenans can be bribed to go away, but the Cult resorts to violence every time, so Matuzu much prefers Kaconenans over Cultists in their territory. It has to be one or the other because here's the thing: these two groups can't coexist. At all. They both survive almost exclusively by raiding.

Thqt means every caravan sacked, every traveler killed or kidnapped by the Cult, is money that the Kaconenans have lost out on. They do NOT like Cultists stepping on their turf, and unlike the Great Kingdom militaries, they aren't afraid to retaliate and piss off Disgrace. They straight up don't give a shit because they know Disgrace doesn't have the resources to deal with them. Matuzu, the richest power on Gaia, spent centuries and obscene amounts of money trying to smack down the Kaconenans and failed miserably.

Disgrace and his cult don't stand a chance--they know it, the Kaconenans know it, and the Matuzans know it. The Kaconenans aren't even rich, far from it, it's just their unique nomadic lifestyle and branched tribal structure that makes them a major pain in the ass. No other faction really does this as effectively as they do.

When Kaconenans catch Cultists crossing the savannah (and they ALWAYS catch them, because the Cult is about as subtle as a freight train) they don't even give them the option to bribe, they just immediately kill them. This is great news for Matuzu.

You might say Kaconenans are "free" security for Matuzu, but that's not exactly true. Matuzu spends a lot of money cleaning up their damages. It just happens to be a lot LESS money than they'd spend trying to deal with the Cult if they got a foothold in the kingdom.

Matuzu: Kaconenans are the worst thing that ever happened to our kingdom! Horrible fiends! The most disgusting and vile terrorists to ever--

Crescent Cult: lol hi

Matuzu: ...uummmm hey Kaconenans 🥰 we'll gargle your balls if you go deal with that bullshit for us 😋 kthx love u bye 😘

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[loominggaia]

I was rereading Agony Awakens, and I realized I never really made it clear why Disgrace gave Dilly to Goryx. I can’t find an organic way to explain it in the story itself, so I'll do so here:

When Dilly was created, the first thing she tried to do was kill her creator (Disgrace). This isn’t normal behavior for a monster, not even for those forged by Disgrace. (Later, we learn that Dilly's intelligence is closer to peoples than animals, so it's not like she didn't understand what she was doing...)

Disgrace realized right away that this monster was going to be a "problem child". But he didn't destroy her, because that would be an admission that he fucked up, plus a big waste of resources. So, instead of risking his own butt keeping an unruly mount who wants him dead, he did the sensible thing...he pushed it onto a subordinate he hates and called it a "gift".

Such a bitch move lmao

[loominggaia]

I just gotta say I really like mankind’s disgrace & the concepts behind evil which he presents. That he’s while he’s a being of pure cruelty, he cannot really be labeled as “evil” because his heinous actions are out of necessity and not by human selfishness. That disgrace is a living (if by the eldritch abomination variety) organism trying to survive, it just so happens that he survives off cruelty and suffering. Same applies to the monsters he’s forged, that their cruelty is a matter of survival and not human evil. Does that justify or excuse all the horrifying shit that happens because of it? HELL FUCKING NO!!! But that still creates an interesting concept and story telling ideas.

As for the crescent cultist, unlike the divine they worship they are each fully & truly deserving of the title of evil. For their cruelty is entirely their own choice, the product of their own malice & selfishness then any survival need. They willfully choose to violate & destroy others entirely for their own malignant pleasure, the golden mask they get only allowing them to profit further from their malice, not creating it out of thin air.

This is a great analysis! This is why Disgrace is one of my favorite villains in the series. He's really not "evil" in the way we traditionally think of evil, but he does bring out the true evil in others.

He can only do so much damage alone. His real power lies in the hatred and violence he inspires in peoples, and his army of angry, hateful soldiers are the ones who do the real damage.

Disgrace has no choice but to do the evil he does. His army, however, joins his efforts out of a greedy thirst for power. They see his violence as power and they're inspired by it, wishing to be powerful too. They are willing to ride his coattails all the way into hell if it means trampling some people along the way.

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[loominggaia]

Speaking of Disgrace...

I think as more people encounter Isaac and see that he has the Divine Executioner, word will spread that Disgrace doesn't have it.

The dragon has lost its teeth, essentially. Disgrace has a LOT of enemies, and if there was ever a time to get the jump on him, that time is now. He's scrambling to get that weapon back because the longer he goes without it, the more danger he's in.

Other divines, in particular, have major beef with him because they're the ones who have to share their existence with him for all eternity. If he succeeds at world domination, they will face an eternity of Hell.

The Executioner was the only thing keeping them off his back. Now that he has lost the only thing that can kill them, I feel like at least one of them is going to shoot their shot and try to imprison/disable him somehow.

Something fun to think about!

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[loominggaia]

The thought of Disgrace leading his army around is so funny to me because like...not all of his soldiers are monsters and undead. A lot of them are just regular-ass dudes who need to eat, sleep, and shit like everyone else. He's gotta hit the drive-thru at McDonald's and get 400 cheeseburgers to feed these stupid fucks once in a while. He's gotta shelter them in someone's cutesy bed and breakfast so they don't get cold and die. He has to essentially babysit hundreds of The Worst Men on Gaia as he takes them from point A to point B.

idk I just think there's some comedy in there somewhere.

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