#fake cult

[oven3bird]

Warnings: Cults of course, cult behavior, violence, abuse, death, heavy manipulation and other themes often related to Cults.

One of my biggest interests is cult behavior, so here's a list of the changes I did to the OG Children of Dionysus to make them more mine. (This is all fictional, and I have no experience in being part of a Cult whatsoever.)

There are mentions of this stuff in the fic, but I wanted to do a deep-dive into it before I posted the second (and final) chapter for it.

First: in this AU, the Children of Dionysus regrouped after the events of the Pride special, without the leaders. So, as a base, the new C.D works differently than most textbook cults. They don't have a leader assigned, so they're basically like a beehive without a queen.

There is a specific group that oversees the group activities, but otherwise, all decisions are voted for.

If you're familiar with cult behavior, you will know that often there's specific language used in the group to separate the members from the outside, we vs them situation.

In this case, the Children of Dionysus refer to each other as brother/sister/sibling. Since they believe to be under the same family, they aren't allowed to refer to the cult as anything else than family.

People outside the cult are referred to as “Offsprings of Hestia”. You might ask why Hestia? Because Hestia gave up her place for Dionysus, that, in the eyes of the OG leaders, the oldest children, was a weakness, and as the rest of the world is something below them, they're associated with her.

(No, there's no actual myth referring to this. Some places just had Dionysus instead of Hestia as an Olympian, but, just as real life cults, most beliefs are sustained under false pretences.)

About recruitment:

The members of the cult often help around their communities, calling these outings “The Canvasses”, they go out in smaller groups of 3-4 to do different activities.

Those range from painting murals to cleaning the city, gardening, helping around the places they live in.

The Canvasses are used to lure people in, to take people into their public meetings and slowly convince them about their beliefs.

Those activities are referred to as The Canvasses because the family tries to recruit empty people, who might need to live under their father's protection, people who might need to find a home.

As the cult started, the leaders would take anyone in. As long as you were at the meetings, they were part of the family.

This changes after the leaders are arrested, and the group separates for a while. They become wary and as the group gets back together, they decide to not let people in just like that.

The Children of Dionysus become an exclusive group, so even if you are in their public meetings, you still need to be invited to the family. People can bring a person up to vote and, as long as everyone agrees, the person can temporarily join them.

Inside the cult: Customs, attire, ranks, prayers and more.

So, you have made it into the group, and, as a temporally foster child of Dionysus: you have a few things to learn.

First, to reach your first milestone under the group, you need to participate in group activities that are overseen by the Central Council for the Children, the Interconnection.

The Interconnection, as the children who have reached all that it is to be reached, take it upon themselves to care for the rest now that the oldest siblings abandoned the group. (They went to prison.)

One of your first activities, in order to be allowed to participate in The Veiling, is to join the group sharing sessions, where you alongside other members will share traumas, struggles and more.

At first, you will be comforted, as you're just leaving those worries behind, yet to understand the beauty of physical pain.

You will be tasked to help with The Canvasses, attend the public meetings accompanied by one of your siblings who have already reached The Repeal.

You will only be allowed to participate in The Veiling when you leave your worries behind, when you no longer think about the offsprings problems as your own, when you are ready to only think about the family.

The veiling: The official integration to the family, you were saved from the outside world, full of weak and shameful offsprings, you are now a Children of Dionysus.

You, as a rightful family member, are now allowed to wear a white, clean, lace veil, that will reach just below your eyes.

This veil will protect you against the outsider's eyes.

Alongside your veil, you will also gain access to Connection, you're yet to be allowed to participate, as you are young and still adjusting, but you will see your siblings Connect.

During the Connection, the siblings who want to participate will fight against each other, normally the activity will stop when one of them bleeds. In special occasions it will go on for longer, but you're not allowed to watch.

The group sharing is still open, but you no longer need to worry about problems from outside the family. It would be shameful, for a Children of Dionysus, to need any other kind of pain other than physical.

Now, during the time of the sharing, you will learn about the Family, the prayers and phrases used around The Home.

After two months with the Family, you're now allowed to enter the Connection as a participant.

If you're strong enough to win, you have reached your second milestone.

The Masking: Congrats! You won against one of your siblings, don't you feel closer to them?

Now that you have won, you will be allowed to conceal yourself even more, your siblings will give you needles and thread, you will choose the lace you prefer.

There's now a new activity open, where you and others will gather to modify veils.

As you are now masked from the offsprings, you must sew into your veil your new lace, it will reach under your lips.

It's prohibited to wash it, it's meant to reflect your connection with The Father, as bloodied as your sibling's hands.

As bloodied as your own, since now Connections replace your old group sharing, you're not obligated to participate. But wouldn't that keep you away from your siblings?

Have you decided what you want to do next?

Are you satisfied with the Connections that you have?

What about moving into the home?

That could be your next step, moving into the home of Your Father, to Connect more with your siblings.

What would they think of you otherwise? When everyone is gathered around the table, the one in the Father's house, while you, a sibling who is not under his roof, are alone in a world full of Hestia's offsprings?

Have you decided yet?

The Repeal: Moving into Dionysus Home.

First, to be able to join, all siblings need to get rid of everything that is not fitting of the home, reminders of the world outside his protection are useless, cause unnecessary pain.

Nobody needs those objects, everything that it's needed exists in the Family.

As someone who has just reached The Repeal, you'll choose your new lace and add it just like the last one, reaching below your shoulders. Weren't you tired of carrying burdens outside of Father's reach?

Soon, as someone now living under Dionysus, public meetings and Canvasses will stop being mandatory, why would you need them? But Connecting is a daily task, isn't your veil the prettiest? Now that it's covered in the shared blood of the Children of Dionysus.

“Scars shall be sacred as they testify our unity.”

Don't clean that cut, open your stitches back, enjoy the pain, there is nothing outside of it.

Your mind is no longer needed, keep fighting, share with your siblings.

Isn't your veil a little short?

Disconnect: “Devotion exists within our sacrifices.”

Members of the Family will only be allowed to interact with each other, you are no exception.

Public meeting are prohibited, exiting the Home must be approved by the Interconnected first.

Group-sharing is allowed again between the siblings who had reached the Disconnect and Dedication.

The Connection will last longer, why would you stop spending time with your siblings for a bit of blood? Keep going until one of you passes out, Dionysus would be proud.

This time, just like the siblings before you did and the ones after you will do, your thread must be dipped into blood before you add more lace to your veil.

Using your own blood will ensure your Connection to The Father, no one will take away that from you, not even the offsprings.

Isn't the lace moving around your fingers calming? Now that your actions are hidden from unworthy people.

Who are they to dictate what's right? They don't live with you, they don't Connect with you, nobody will care outside your Family.

Your siblings and The Father are all that matters.

“Praise be our joint path.”

Dedication: Start anew.

Create a new identity away from the tainted one.

Cut every last connection that hasn't been touched by The Father.

“Devotion exists within our sacrifices.”

Make him happy.

Choose a fitting name. Be reborn.

“Scars shall be sacred as they testify our unity.”

As a new person, you will be gifted a new mark.

The burning sensation will pass soon, your siblings will be happy that you now share the scar, the mark of Dionysus.

It doesn't matter if it hurt, pain is the path.

Add more lace to your veil, the mark on your leg is only meant to be seen by members of the Family.

Keep Connecting with your siblings.

Dehumanization: Join The Father, be superior.

You have proven yourself worth it, join the Interconnection now, you're ready, your body bears the scars of your devotion, your mind free of any struggle.

You are ready to no longer be a human.

As something not human, the lace will cover you, only Dionysus himself can see you.

You have spent four long years proving yourself, you're ready.

“We thank our pain for our union.

Embracing wounds as our sacred bond.”

You will speak, opening ceremonies.

“As we face Hestia's children, our suffering echoes proudly.”

Will yell back your Family, matching wounds, scars, marks.

The ceremony is over.

More details:

Since this cult is based around pain, sharing that pain and being proud of being hurt, it's obvious that many members go too far and end up dying.

To be clear, after the OG leaders leave, the new group in charge of everyone else doesn't kill members, they don't SA members or cause permanent damage to them outside the branding during Dedication.

The Interconnected are just member as well, they just organize the group, and everyone (as long as they have been part of the group for four years) can join.

But, with the amount of injuries and fights going on, some members will start self-harming, as it's seem as just another form of Connection, the Interconnected try to regulate the rest, but as they also share the same cult mentality they fail at doing so.

Speaking of Connection, the Mass Connection referred in the fanfic it's just like it sound, a huge group of people fight at the same time, it's only made in special occasions (Like the day the group was founded, when they find a new place, when they reach certain number of members, etc.)

What Bernard refers to in “20 people passing”, it's a reward given to the last twenty standing, who will be excused of the requirements for the next “rank”, they automatically pass.

For Bernard, that would mean joining the Dedication ranks, without having the mandatory months without outside world interactions beforehand.

Death and mourning:

Just as seen in the fic, the death of one of the members is important and mourning has specific rituals.

First, they need to clean their veils as much as possible, since the only one covered in blood the day of the burial will be the dead body.

The body is handled only my family members of the same gender, it's washed, any open wounds are cleaned and stitched.

Every dead body will have a piece of clothing in white during the ceremony, embroidered by those closest to the deceased, who first dip the threats into their own blood.

The clothes will have a design unique to them, meant to reflect who that person was in live.

The veil of the deceased will be covered in their blood and buried with them in a glass casket.

They will be buried in any patch of land the group can acquire, they're reported missing by the newest member, who is acting like a decoy while the ceremony is happening.

Reach of the cult:

During the DC Pride special, the cult it's Gotham based and not that big.

In this version, there's the main branch in Gotham, then smaller ones around the country. When the Gotham branch is found, the people who were living at that home go to other branches and wait to see what to do.

That's when the Interconnection is formed, by all the members who did their Dehumanization, who all decide to relocate the majority of the members into three houses, each one in a different state, merging all the small branches into three.

When Tessa dies in the fic, it's the 10th death that year, so the Interconnection decides that they need to move again, this time to a bigger house with all the members.

And that's all!

I will probably rewrite the first part of this fic, since I no longer love it, but I'm still happy with the building of the Cult.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I love talking about it.

[gummigoo-cult]

Hello!

We're the Gummigoo Cult, and if it isn't obvious, we worship the tadc character Gummigoo. Every Wednesday we sacrifice parmesan cheese to Gummigoo. Help spread the word!

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we are currently taking new members!!

If you want to join and new members are being accepted, just submit anything in the askbox asking for it or direct message either tinywafflerat or this account!

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Tags we use:

Gummigoo Supremacy : Gummigoo reblogs/very very important stuff

Ugh words : Answered asks.

Not Gummigoo : Self-explanatory, misc stuff.

Announcement : Anything from rituals to text posts to keep the community running.

Happy Cheese Sacrifice Wednesday: Every Wednesday we sacrifice cheese. we don't use this tag often but you can tag your cheese-related gummigoo stuff with this.

Amazing art!!!: art that makes me cry out of happiness

Amazing post!!!: text posts that make me cry out of happiness

Cult milestone: wooo milestone

Calling all cultists: we attack at midnight 😈😈😈

Join the cult: marketing

Caine war: Caine abuse 🥳

Princess x Ghost Propaganda: very unbiased stuff. not gummigoo though

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want a new role? check job openings!

gummigoo ship names

other tadc cults

cult rituals

claimed anons

FOLLOWER LIST PART 2

Member list + Rank:

@tinywafflerat (Founder)

@gizmos-n-gadgets (Co-founder)

@ink-the-axolotl-rabbit (Spoon maker)

@willowthefoxxo (Builder)

@jaxfromthatcircus (Farmer)

@thea-lynn (Farmer)

@urkillerbxyfriend (Farmer)

@smellypotato741 (Exorcist)

@erii-com (Exorcist)

@somcdonaldsamirite (Blood Ritualist)

@psy-pug (Army Leader)

@mudder567 (Builder)

@eepythesleepy (Builder)

@booba-lover (Follower)

@zerothejackal (Follower)

@immabethehero (Follower)

@digitalhallucinations697 (Follower)

@wondercircus-official (Follower)

@sunification (Follower)

@thechaoticlittlejester (Follower)

@blanks-bullshit (Follower)

@batty-the-tadc-weeb (Follower)

@xxmoonduskxx (Follower)

@gfox-arts (Follower)

@triangularitydubs (Follower)

@poppyseedqueenz (Follower)

@alien-insomniac-05 (Follower)

@xaviercreator12345 (Follower)

@big-old-bee (Follower)

@cloverydreamertt (Follower)

@bagelwithseeds (Follower)

@l1zardiz (Follower)

@coolviper37056 (Follower)

@queeniesretrozone (Follower)

@thatonetwig (Follower)

@tboom10 (Follower)

@fluffybugz (Follower)

@sweet-dignity-pegususgirl (Follower)

@multifandomperson173 (Follower)

@creaturepastar (Follower)

@seaslug-enjoyer (Follower)

@leatherhead-the-gator (Follower)

@url0calcrvckhead (Follower)

@delawbutcooler (Follower)

[xxvampboyxx]

This is my baby angel. There will be an info dump for him and his side story soon... with toxic yoai 👅

[the-slumbered-minds]

Join us in this eternal sleep, it is pointless to stay awake in a world so cruel..

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Gravity Falls was strange, and the townsfolk even stranger, it seemed.

The twins had been unceremoniously dropped off on the side of the dusty road, the roar of the bus engine fading away as the driver wordlessly drove off without fanfare. The poor man had almost seemed close to tears ever since they had entered the thresholds of this seemingly innocuous town, all too eager to speed off and away while leaving the two children coughing and wheezing in its dust.

It had not even been a full minute since their lackluster drop-off before they became well acquainted with the oddly sociable and irritatingly chatty inhabitants of Gravity Falls. A single conversation with a pair of boisterous policemen already told them all they needed to know about the history of the town, as well as the whereabouts of their Great Uncle Ford.

"The Mystery Shack," the townsfolk had called it. It seemed as though their distant uncle had earned himself somewhat of a reputation amongst the locals. He was the town cryptid; the ever elusive mad scientist that lived in the outskirts of town in this so called "Mystery Shack". No one really knew who he really was; but everyone knew exactly who he was.

So, when the twins found themselves stood hand in hand in front of the rickety old shack, they hadn't really known what to expect when door had swung open with a deafening slam.

He was a strange man, their Great Uncle Ford. He seemed nothing like the cackling looney lab-coated madman they had imagined from what meager hushed information the townsfolk had offered them. It seemed as though the tales of a scientist gone mad that experimented on stray children that wandered into his spooky "Mystery Shack" was but a cruel rumor.

He mostly just seemed unhealthy, to be honest. His sickly, pale frame utterly drowned in the thick red woolen sweater that practically seemed to hang off of his lanky body like a second flap of skin. It made him look almost child-like, like a kid trying on their parents clothes; which somewhat diluted the intimidating effects of his looming height.

Although, the townsfolk's apparent fear of their Great Uncle Ford seemed to have some merit.

For one, Grunkle Ford really didn't seem all too human. He wasn't inhumane, per se; just, not entirely himself, if that made any sense. Looking at him was like looking at an incomplete puzzle; or looking at someone who you remember all your life wearing a hat, suddenly coming to work one day without one, and it takes a little too long for you to remember what is missing.

It was like Grunkle Ford had lost pieces of himself. Somewhere, to someone. His eyes seemed... almost empty. They were a little too dull and a little too opaque, lacking the lively shine of life everyone else seemed to have.

Another thing was that Grunkle Ford wasn't entirely alone. There was... someone else. The twins couldn't exactly pinpoint where, but they could feel its stare, whatever or whoever it was. They could almost feel its stare, a non-existent eye trailing a weird prickling sensation across their skin. The twins recalled the words of one of the townsfolk, a tall bestacled man with haunted blind eyes; although unseeing they could have sworn his gaze never seemed to leave them, as all he said was:

"Don't catch IT staring at you"

The twins had an odd feeling that IT was looking at them right now.

They didn't even notice when the pale bony hand of Grunkle Ford suddenly reached into their personal space, barely registering his words at all, much less the extra fingers that adorned each of his rough, worn palms.

They didn't take the hand.

If the twins had thought the outside of the shack looked decrepit, the inside seemed somehow even worse.

Every inch of exposed wall, ceiling or floor were utterly covered by sprawling symbols, summoning circles, and indecipherable words that seemed to be in an entirely different language than any the twins knew. They overlapped and tangled into one another into big, messy, red splotches of clustered nothings.

There were notes, diagrams on ripped pieces of aged looking paper scattered everywhere, with hardly any room for post-it notes squeezed wherever there was room. Lit and unlit candles were placed absolutely everywhere; either hidden in the dark corners or openly stood in the middle of the floor; sometimes in a circle, sometimes not. The melted fallen wax had coagulated into a hard white mess onto the floor; the smell of cheap vanilla scented candles intermingling with the smell of halloween fake blood (and Dipper was convince there had to be some real blood there, too) to create a sour concoction that stung their noses unpleasantly.

The shack was sparsely furnished with rarely any furniture at all. Not even a couch, the tables and chairs simply pushed to the walls to make more space for the endlessly swirling symbols and pentagrams. The twins were hesitant of stepping on any of the summoning circles, carefully sidestepping the candles and walking over the line of the pentagrams.

The attic, where they would be residing, was not much better.

Maybe they did end up in a mad scientist's house, after all.

[citrenecult]

Drew the Lamb, Narinder, and the Follower Bishops.

Some close ups.

[rydrake6]

I want to make an entire fake cult and bury evidence of it in the ground somewhere to confuse the historians.

[aychama]

Remember when I said I had plans for Ruri?

This is pretty self explanatory I think 😂

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[bl00dfroma-fairy]

[chalkrub]

finishing off oc-tober by drawing my spookiest guys, definitely not super late and just in time for halloween! which is a week-long event as we all know

[for-zionists]

These two images have the same energy.

[jellynotbees]

I decided to give lamb a nickname! I realized for like 95% of the story they won’t be using their actual name (and would react poorly to anyone using it) so I needed Something for Narinder to call them because he’s kinda nosy and wouldn’t believe they had forgotten their name at this point

This will tie into a future comic :)

[rejectingrepublicans]

During his first run he answered “Two Corinthians” which sounds like the start of a joke. F—king moron.

[cultistic-ann-aka-sannaliel]

uuhhhh, i hope you don't mind, Lambert gonna chill with my scared kitty for little (@aychama)

part 2

[weatherbane]

area Durge willing to experience potentially unrequited love as long as they get to try brand new things such as TouchTM