#cotl au: bishops of the new faith

[many-faced]

More art for my COTL AU! Still trying to think of better AU names, if you didn't see the last post, current AU name is Bishops of the New Faith

This time i did a ref sheet for Narinder! Featuring his bishop design, follower design and his Witness design :>

In this AU, after spending a few years in the cult, Narinder eventually becomes Styx's (the lamb's) Witness.

While imprisoned in this AU he keeps his bishop robe because I think it looks cool.

Narinder is declawed in this AU, which i decided to add thanks to Unholy Alliance's new bishop relic, Narinder's Claw. Since we now have more info on the sealing of Narinder, he's do no evil and his bishop item is a full claw, not just a shed outer claw, I think it thematically makes sense :>

His robe in the second image is based on the Enforcer of the Old Faith robe, which I put all of my disciples in in my actual cotl save files ^^

[lagomorphics]

woe! pre-game bishop family be upon ye!

i forgot i doodled a bunch of younger nari interacting with his other siblings, and also forgot about this bigger bishop family sketch, so here u all go <3

[awful-little-goose]

Shamura?

I got a question.

So what would happen if one of the old gods managed to get a vessel?

Like what would theoretically happen?

(I assumed this question was made regarding the au I’m working on, aka the lamb looking for new vessels for the crowns of the old faith)

[dipdoodlesamuel]

another miscellaneous doodle dump 🕺

[purple-eyesgreydragon]

In the scorching desert of the Sweltersands, live the gazelles. Where they have forever lived in fear. As they have always been the favorite food of the divine ruler of the desert, Cobraia the Great Snake. For as long as any can remember the gazelles lived in Cobraia's land, forced to reproduce constantly, and never allowed to leave. Till either they were old enough or Cobraia's craving was strong enough. A select few were to be devoured, and the gazelles feared it above all else.

One young gazelle however had had enough of Cobraia's tyranny. The Gazelle having heard from Cobraia's followers, the tales of the Lamb. They sought the Lamb's aid in freeing the gazelles forever. However Cobraia was prepared for the Lamb's potential arrival. For she possessed something of great significance. Which would never allow the Lamb to come near her, nor harm her. But the Gazelle was not the Lamb. The Gazelle pleaded for power like the Lamb's. In return they would not only loyally follow the Cult of the Lamb, but spread the Cult through the Sweltersands. Through a carefully practiced ritual similar to that which created the Goat. A crown copy was bestowed to the Gazelle. Now wielding power similar to the Lamb, their power only becomes greater as their and others' devotion grows for the Lamb. After all, the Gazelle's crown is merely an extension of the Lamb's Red Crown. Now the Gazelle, missionary of the Lamb, Liberator of their kind, and leader of the Lamb's Cult in the Sweltersands. Will journey though the scorching desert, recruit all new followers, and finally take the gluttonous Cobraia down for good.

I’d like to think since the Goat has a purple crown identical the Red Crown. Maybe its power could be copied and divided for the number of the Bishops of the Old Faith. The Lamb being the leader with the main crown, the Goat has a purple copy (purple like Shamura), the Gazelle has a yellow copy (yellow like Heket), and other bovine missionary follower recruits get their own copies (reflecting the rest).

I based some of the Gazelle off the Lamb concept designs. Hey, the Goat came from them too.

[c0gito]

i’m not even gonna lie i have like 4 ideas for how to fit the goat into nomadic faith but 2 of them won’t work with the concept of the other one one, and one is the ‘alternate universe excuse’ ™️

[spookitordukeit]

Okay here me out—

Yellow Cat with the crown of chaos…

👁️👁️

Chaos cat???

[petrichorthefox]

I was thinking about the bishops for my cotl AU, since the originals had already been brought into the cult. I won't spoil anything but the species/people I think the new bishops would be. Let me know if they are good fits? I am having a hard time with a fit for Darkwood and Anchordeep.

-Darkwood- bat enemy (since the other options are basically all worms, and I don't want to make a second Leshy)

-Anura- Sozo (Insane god archetype, mushroom-ness matches Anura)

-Anchordeep- swordfish (follower form character, work with his design to be either like a plague mask pattern or actual mask)

Silk Cradle- Monch (that moth NPC, talks about wisdom and matches the darker atmosphere of Silk Cradle) If y'all like these let me know, I want to draw them if I get a green light on it, for design concepts n thingies :) I am excited about this, the brain worms are strong. There is a short comic page coming later today too, watch out!

[notjustonefandom1]

I can't remember the name, but in a fic on AO3, when Nari is teaching the lamb how to act like a god, he mentions that he and his siblings had been trained by Duke's That these mortals had taught them how to be gods.

I see that idea, and it sent me in a bit of a spiral for my own au. Why are mortals telling God's how to act? Who are they to make these demands, and what right do they have? I think it is a matter of control, puppeteeing the Bishops the way one would a king. Sure by the time of the game they're all dead but their influence remains. Why else would Narinder be shamed for his ability? If it went against the natural order, why could he revive so easily? To the point his vessel only needs a few bones to do it? Who else would have taught Kallamar to fear his brother? To be so mortally fearful of death? Who else would have demanded these gods to fit the roles given them instead of letting the gods define themselves and their domains? Why can Famine and Pestilence bring feast and health, but Chaos, Death, and War cannot bring Order, Life, and Peace? Because it was the limited these Duke's put on them and even millenia later the Bishops remember the fear and lessons they learned as children.

Narinder was the first and only one to question this, to try and grow and be something more then he was told to be, for he over saw the Duke's deaths and KNOWS because their souls were forced to bare him the truth when their judges came. Even if it still took several thousand years to convince himself to try, haunted by the memories of harsh lessons and harsher punishments.

But the others? Leshy, who would have been constantly dismissed as a mere chaos god and been thusly kept in line, to keep him as much control over chaos as possible? Who had watched his more powerful siblings suffer. He would much rather stay buried in the dirt than risk such dangers.

Hecket, who has never been full but would still be purposefully starved, so she would "know what her domain means"? That remembers being a child hiding when her siblings were punished for feeding her? Haunted by the feeling of overeating when a feast was set before her after a week of starvation and how sick eating made her only to be told it was because in feasting she was going against her domain The thought of trying to cross those lines that had been carved out was terrifying even for her.

Kallamar, he who had stitched and peaced together his siblings after their lessons and punishments alike, that had been forced to witness some of the most terrifying diseases and poisons since he was too young to fully understand? Had been taught that his domains' whole purpose was to make others suffer and live long enough to experience that suffering? A god made to fear even his own domain, turning to weapons for comfort even knowing the things he feared most could not be stopped by blade or shield? Kallamar wouldn't dare try.

Finally, Shamura, they who had at first been forced to bear the Duke's cruelity alone, that their domains may include wisdom, but that did not mean they knew more than the Duke's. Who had that lesson beat into their body and mind long before they gained one sibling, never minding all four, and only knew how to protect them through obedience and encouraged them to do the same, hoping that the Duke's wouldn't find a reason to punish these Shamura swore to protect. A god of War taught the cruelities but not the motivation and why mortals were able to fight so desperately even after receiving a killing wound. Shamura who was never taught Wisdom came from the heart as much as the mind, who allowed these early lessons from when they were alone to guide them, until it even made them turn on a brother they swore to protect.

This is what the New God's will face when they enter the past. Not armies and weapons, but five traumatized gods, still controlled by the Duke's, who may not be God's but use learned fear and conditioning to control them. The future Bishops must relive these memories while trying to guide their past selves on lessons learned too late while the New Fate must aid them without revealing themselves as gods to mortals.

[thewingedgoat]

THIS, THIS IS TRUE BEAUTY

Kallamar

this u?

The disrespe-

[aveloka-draws]

Howdy!! Ik you're slow to answer but I figured I'd take a shot at it anyway--I've been slowly making my way through your CotL comics and I have a few questions!

1.) is there a link or somewhere I can read your ichor's vessel AU from the very beginning as opposed to scrolling backwards through the tag?

2.) does Leshy ever tell Theon that he was the former Bishop of Darkwood? Ik Theon told Lamb that they(?) were willing to wait until Leshy was ready to tell them himself but did he ever work up the courage to do so?

3.) how did Lamb pick their four disciples--or does it get revealed in the ichor's vessel AU? Bc they seem like a ragtag sort of group and I'm really curious about when/how/why Lamb chose each of them in particular

bonus comment--I loooooooove the way you chose to characterize Saleos and his unhinged devotion to Kallamar (whose characterization I also adore)--that one comic where Kallamar nearly slits Saleos' throat is so good and I think about it/go back to read it all the time 💙💙💙

Thank you so much aaa n.n

1. Only tag for now, tried to make a master list w all of it but gave up for now u.u

2. Soon

3. It kinda happened along the time it took Lamb defeating the bishops.

Cerva was the first follower, helping around since the start and is the most loyal, Saleos brought knowledge of the old faith and became the cults medic, Tzinn is able to hear almost everything that happens in the cult and de escalates conflicts often calming down dissenters before anything serious happens, Dr Sozonius keeps order in the camp and is in charge of keeping the library where they keep both materials from the old faith as well as the new one, scriptures him and Lamb work on.

By the time Narinder was defeated they were the closest to Lamb and were already helping with the cult, so they made the four of them disciples.

[many-faced]

Bishops Of The New Faith

COTL AU

None becomes one becomes five once again. 

The two-faced, the silent, the rageful, the collector and the sacrifice.

Where five have fallen, five will rise.

For a crown on no brow grows restless.

[issue-paper]

Witnesses of the New Faith

COTL Au!

More info below!

Witnesses of the New Faith is an AU I've been slowly developing! So what IS WOTNF? In this universe the Lamb has already defeated Narinder. Narinder has been spared but a few days after being indoctrinated into the cult he fell into a deep sleep, a comotose like state.

Lambert has been trying their best to get Narinder to wake up but no matter what they do, they can't seem to wake him. So with the time they have on their hands they meet the Mystic Seller who does the same thing they do in the game, and the Lamb agrees. After they free each bishop from purgatory, they begin to learn more about them.

As the many years go on each bishop earns the Lamb's trust and are then put into the position of witness. They help Lambert run their cult and try to find a way to wake their traitorous brother.

Im thinking about writing a fic or making comics for it!! I just- GGGRRRRR really like my concept :3

Feel free to send asks if you're curious at all!! :D

[awful-little-goose]

I may be…plotting >:}

[acoraxia]

I may have just found your art (is so freaking pretttttyyyyy) and your cotl AU but I now desperately need to know everything about the AU because it looks so. cool.

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME INDULGE IN TALKING ABOUT MY LITTLE AU AHEM AHEM

I’m going to ramble now if that’s ok-

WARNING:: long and messy ramblings about AU ideas, headcanons and body horror/gore mentions up ahead

My Lamb’s story is actually pretty simple: they were born as Aluhé (ahl-weh) to a family filled with traveling performers. They traveled throughout the land of the Old Faith, worshipping the gods (especially Shamura) and performed to earn money to maintain themselves. Life was good up until rumors of the prophecy foretold by the Bishops spread towards the little hers; when Aluhé came of age they learned of said prophecy and that that was the reason why their family “settled down” in a (supposedly) hidden village.

Eventually, heretics arrive and they kill the herd safe for Aluhé and they escape, meet a flock of goats and Jahel (goat co-op character) and then run away due to guilt only to be captured by heretics and be introduced to the bishops.

After meeting Narinder and obtaining the crown, Aluhé refused to do anything in his name — refused to start a cult or touch the crown or anything… for months

they met Koi when they were planning to simply kill the Bishops bare handed and instead save her from being sacrificed (haha me too!). They don’t run the cult per say — mostly due to the fact they don’t want to get attached to anyone but they feel a strong sense of… protectiveness when it comes to the flock, going as far as appointing disciples to ensure the cult is safe and beating the life out of heretics that get a little too close for comfort to the cult grounds.

THE CROWN TAKES SUCH A MASSIVE TOLL ON ALUHÉ HOWEVER — apart from the fact that Aluhé is “easily corrupted” being fueled by a blind sense of justice towards the culling of their species over a family’s spat and a selfish fucker’s decisions, the crown latches on to their body and often does so when Aluhé has their guard down. This allows for certain changes to occur — the lack of hunger, exhaustion and ability to “morph” their body being a few of them.

It doesn’t help that Aluhé refuses to use the crown to fight unless absolutely necessary (because they hate dying because it means hearing Narinder talk and because they’ll end up angry all over again—) and often wears the crown around their neck.

This causes certain personality changes as well: Aluhé is typically quiet and docile when engaging with the flock if only a bit intimidating. They don’t talk to the followers unless necessary and only exchange actual conversation with their disciples. Since no follower is allowed to go on crusades with Aluhé they’re omitted from the fact their benevolent leader is in fact very, very, very, violent

They’d often consume heretics during their final moments or force feed their remains to the few that tried to get away (and failed) so they’d choke and die — a brutality that spread towards the bishops and their own disciples (Narinder still remembers how vile it was to see a meek little lamb get up and tear Barbatos to shreds, only to then use one of the worms’ teeth to sink it into Leshy’s flesh. Charming, really). This only strengthens when they kill Narinder and are eventually crowned the new god of death… among other things… and their body eventually adapts to the changes but it takes a toll on their mental health (

Their behavior, however, can be traced back to Shamura���

Since the two had a very interesting conversation before Aluhé was sent to be sacrificed:

Smh Aluhé you should be grateful to be blessed with the presence of the War Bishop tssk tsk

When the Bishops are killed and, eventually, brought back to life per the Mystic Seller’s request, Aluhé refuses to heal them or allow for their bodies to heal until they repent or make a pact with them to ensure obedience as they join their flock. Goes about as well as you can imagine

A big little change I made was that I made the Bishops Embodiments of their titles rather than just gods worshipped for it.

So Narinder is the Embodiment of Death, Leshy is the Embodiment of Chaos, etc. despite having somewhat mortal bodies they are still connected to their godhood and this will not change due to the fact that the world still needs gods in order to maintain balance — it also means that Aluhé is not just the god of death but the god of other things; it also means they have.. a union with Narinder, so to speak

The Gods have vessels for the sole purpose of their finding their replacements (because the gods will exist, even if they are not the same person they once were years ago) or to gain more worship and strengthen their power. When the Old Faith started getting greedy (coughs, Narinder) it was harder to find willing vessels or the right type of vessels to take on the task of bringing the Siblings more worship. It took years to find the proper candidates for Leshy or Kallamar (because the fucker was so PICKY /j) and it also caused a bit of horror to the siblings to see Aluhé reject the Red Crown as though it were simple

Aside from the Siblings being somewhat “dormant” and Narinder not being within the cult and Shamura traveling with Jahel… there’s a lot of silly little lore I managed to put into the four of them because I thought it’d be fun to explore the capability of Vessels and Gods and “War/Death Incarnate” as a whole — there’s a lot of story lore I don’t want to spoil but you can have these as a treat:

And thats it for now

[amimuu]

Vows to Ash (COTL AU) - Masterpost

"In the end, it all circles back to the same thing.

You, unable to keep one simple promise."

Vows to ash: In which the lamb willingly sacrifices themselves so Narinder can be free, expecting to finally be able to rest from their duties and find peace in the afterlife alongside the rest of the lambs, yet they find themselves brought back to life by the god of death himself, who seeks their help once again.

With the new task of freeing the bishops of the old faith from Purgatory, as well as finding their lost crowns, the Lamb and Narinder must work together—alongside a nice cast of side characters—, hopefully learn how to trust each other, and maybe, just maybe, communicate for once.

—————

Status: ONGOING!

Character Inbox: OPENNNNN--!

Please be mindful of the tags of each post before checking!

Main storyline-related stuff:

Pt 1: "Vows" (Comic)

Pt 1.5: "Hope" (Comic & writing)

Pt 1.5 (On ao3)

Pt 2 (On ao3): "Bruises"

Pt 3 (On ao3): "Eucalyptus"

Character stuff:

Narinder and Lamb designs (plus doodles)!

Nari and Lamb design attempt two (plus doodles)

Leshy and Miyu designs (plus doodles)!

The Lamb's disciples designs!

Tabby and Fern designs!

Doodle dump no.3 I think!

Extras:

“Cold” (Comic, pre-canon)

"Cold/Alter"(Remake, comic, pre-canon!)

“Dream logic” (Comic, pre-canon)

"Bing bong the story starts" (doodles regarding plot :p)

"In sickness and health--Wait, wrong line" (Comic-during canon)

"Fair trade" (Comic, ?????)

"Had I been given the choice..." (Comic-during canon)

—————

Thank you for reading the masterpost :D! hopefully you'll enjoy the au

(You can also find lots of fun info under the #ami answers! tag. Its mostly vta stuff LMAO)