I want fics about The Lamb learning how to handle their new godly status.
I want fics about The Lamb slowly transforming into an appearance and size that befits a god.
I want The Lamb to look big and badass and have super cool horns at the end of a fic.
I want fics about The Lamb getting used to their new god powers and presence.
I want to read fics about how The Lamb reacts when they bleeds ichor instead of mortal blood for the first time.
I want fics about Narinder being left with no godly powers except the lingering stain of immortality, and after making peace with everything, helping The Lamb navigate the changes and powers that come with being the new god of death. (This is optional)
I want fics about The Lamb FEELING the realm of death. I want fics where The Lamb fully becomes the god of death and now is Aware of all Life and Death. I want The Lamb to feel each soul passing through into death.
I want fics about The Lamb learning all the strange, intricate, Rules and *shudder* Politics of godhood, and how to navigate everything without accidentally destroying the universe by sneezing too hard.
So I’ve kinda been thinking (COTL post btw I’ll get back on some DSAF stuff soon). Spoilers for post game.
Purgatory is kinda underutilized in fics.
The bishops have spent who knows how long reliving their deaths on repeat and each seems to kinda have different feelings about this judging from their purgatory pre battle dialogue.
Leshy repeats his initial dialogue from the original fight, but at the end seems to have something of a cry for help with “end this” implying he does indeed find the experience to be hellish. It feels like a plea for any kind of mercy, not as blatant as Kallamar sure but just as poignant. Leshy is suffering BADLY, bad enough that he’s begging for an end to it. The fact he repeats the original dialogue too is also interesting because of this. The whole thing feels very… defeated. It makes sense, he’s been here the longest in most playthroughs. He’s accepted he can’t fight his way out and has resigned to fighting, but still begs for freedom.
Heket is seemingly angry about this and seems to be venting her anger through what is currently her only outlet, killing the lamb repeatedly, which she may or may not be finding more success in than the others as she seems to be less damaged implying she’s been dying less than she’s been killing. Time in a hellish purgatory may have in fact strengthened her resolve to fight. Though I’d say it feels like a temporary resolve, something of a desperate grab to take power of this situation, eventually things will change and she’ll end up in a much similar place to the others.
Kallamar’s dialogue is what is to be expected from the so called “scardy squid”, he begs us to stay back and not hurt him. This is probably the most clear cut display of the effects of purgatory being that he’s seemingly just more scared of us and in a lot of pain. Kallamar I find to be interesting because I’m getting the impression that while other siblings MAY be coaxed to deviate from the norm (maybe not Shamura as they seem pretty ok with this), Kallamar seems the most likely. I can see Kallamar trying to escape the lamb rather than confront them, while others may do this for Kal it feels very likely he not only has done this, but has done it a lot, never succeeding and resolving to just beg for mercy. While Leshy isn’t directly talking to the player Kal says “red crown” meaning there’s no greater force or anything he’s begging to, he’s ONLY begging to us.
Shamura’s dialogue here is very interesting. It feels like they are very resolved to their fate of repeating this eternally and not only don’t care to escape it, but see this fate as a deserved punishment. For Narinder, crimes as a bishop, the lamb genocide, or all of the above we can’t quite say, I’d say probably a mix of all. Regardless, Shamura seems to be in a state of acceptance of this being the rest of their eternity. Their dialoge also implies a Sisyphus situation of “drawing semblance of life” from routine in a known situation where everything is the same. I’m not sure I’d say they are CONTENT like this, but they’re definitely accepting and the fact they seem to think they deserve eternal purgatory hell seems to definitely be part of this.
I feel like all 4 reactions are interesting thematically. Leshy’s feelings of defeat, Heket’s struggle for control, Kallamar’s utter terror and desperation, and Shamura’s passive acceptance.
However I don’t see a lot of people talking about this in fact a lot of fics seem to say the bishops don’t even remember purgatory which is interesting in itself but personally I’d definitely touch on the fact they each had their own individual somewhat breakdowns of their character, and the affect this would have on their minds going forward, especially on their views of themselves, the lamb who was somewhat the vessel for their torture and their behaviour in general. Would they gain new responses? Would certain things like specific weapons trigger memories of their time in purgatory? Would they dream about it?
Just so much cool fuckin shit to explore! I might sometime if any of my DSaF followers stuck it out for this you KNOW I love angst.
Anyway this is all speculation give me your own insight if you have any! <:
I want to see more lamb variety. not physically, but in how they act.
we have lambs that are abstinent. lambs that simp over their pathetic cat malewife. lambs who treat their flock as children and as slaves. lambs who are forever the last by choice and those who choose otherwise (successfully or not).
now give me the lamb that never can't be.
give me the lamb who refuses to marry any follower they don't already love and date.
give me the lamb who opens the tent to all couples and indulges their partner with trips there when desired.
give me the lamb who treats their partners with love, and let's them go when their time comes.
...
give me the lamb with skin as cold as ice, despite the fire in their heart.
give me the lamb that is barren or infertile, their body undead for more years then they can count.
give me the lamb that lays with their lover, knowing they will never have a child with them.
give me the lamb who continues Narinder's experiments, hoping to resurrect the fallen if they cannot birth a new herd.
give me the lamb that was willing to do anything for their god...and just wanted a family in return.
give me the lamb who is still mortal at their core.
I kind of feel like resurrection is a bit too easy in Cult of the Lamb.
The fact you can resurrect pretty much anyone who has died outside of a rare few instances pretty much makes burying your followers unnecessary, and even bothersome since it takes up space in your cult.
And on top of that, chopping up dead followers provides some good resources that I'd rather have than burying the dead, which means I never build graves or crypts.
I always forget how morbid this game actually is until I start talking about it lol
What I'd think would mitigate this issue is if resurrection can only happen if you bury your dead followers. That way you'd have to consider what to do: butcher the dead for the resources, or bury them so you have a chance to resurrect them again.
I was thinking about Cult of the Lamb again and I had an idea...
What if the bishops' crowns work a little similar to Simon's crown in Adventure Time? I mean, that the crown has a mind of its own or a way of thinking that little by little takes control of the user but keeping part of his personality intact...
So when the former bishops become part of the cult they would slowly return to "normality", like healing from a long illness that probably left consequences on them (physical changes? remains of their former powers?)
While The Lamb is slowly corrupted by the crown becoming the bloodthirsty god of death we created during the crusades...
