Adversaries Part 3 - Of the Cult of Zeb.

“If thou beest he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd From him, who in the happy Realms of Light Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst out-shine Myriads though bright…”

Thus was described at the end of the first creation, as the original Paradise was Lost, this Prince of Hell, Manifest Gluttony, and Devourer of Lands, the Lord of the Flies himself, Ruler of the Nightmire and its various manifestations on this our side of the Veil.

He is known by many names, none of which are decent to utter or safe to voice. Even those of our lost siblings who have fallen and seek eternity in the shade of his buzzing hordes: the wretched crew known as the Cult of Zeb, dare not articulate his true name.

Of the Cultists

Lost to their Masters’ deadly sin, they desire everything but prefer nothing over anything else. They do not care whose it is that they reap and plunder, what it is, or if it is for anyone else to claim. Excess in all things is the purpose and means to an end that can never arrive.

As with all demonic cults, their members are solely in it for themselves. While there are those within this Creation who have fallen to the wicked ways of heresy; they still worship the true Lord, albeit not in the correct manner, and along with their misguided brethren, do seek the true path in communion, the Cultists do not. And in that fact lies, perhaps, their greatest weakness.

The Cultists have no sense or love for each other, the only thing that drives them on is the urge to satisfy their Masters’ desire through the Dukes of Zeb, the sevenfold seven demon lords who serve as his stewards across the lands and in the twisted depths.

Whether the misfortunate originally are drawn to the Cult by demonic possession or they are otherwise corrupted by the spirits of the doomed, they quickly become lost beyond redemption, and no one, once given over to the Dukes of Zeb, has ever returned to tell the tale.

Of the Twisted Depths

Organized and commanded by their demonic overlords, the Cultists do not only roam the lands in their efforts to fulfill their Masters' desires, they are also known to infest places within the earth itself, locations that are said to be carved into the very border of this world and the one below, places where the Veil is thin and grows more porous the deeper one delves.

Here the Cultists prepare for the comings and goings of their masters and above all else, strive to prove their worth, sacrificing all they have and manage to gain, in hopes of one day being viewed as worthy to be relieved of their mortal coil and becoming dark revenants in service of the Lord of the Flies for all eternity.

Little is known about the daily happenings in these places in the deep. What we do know is that they are all dedicated to spreading the corruption of the Mire, and most of them are places where the Cultists toil away day and night to fulfill their masters' needs.

Some, such as the one known as The Molting Chambers seem to function as insect hatcheries, where persons apprehended by the cult, as well as the cultists who are proven too weak, are closed up in tiny stone coffins and while still alive, are fed to maggots and larvae that slowly infest their bodies and mature, creating a writhing mass of insects used to spread further the Masters' corruption.

Other places such as The Contageum, are dedicated to the corruption of pigs, the only animal of creation the Cultists look favorably upon. And yet others, such as the one known as The Absterium seem to serve the creation of demonic relics and other implements of the dark arts adapted to human use through inscriptions, symbols, masks, and other trinkets made from the skin of corrupted animals and humans.

Some of these places are, however, more directly frequented by the demons themselves, even the dukes, whenever they have gathered enough strength to cross the veil and manifest among their servants. There are some stories out of those depths telling of feast halls where mountainous maggot-ridden food buffets and rivers of wine await the whim of the Dukes. Other places seem to be more serene and serve as meditation halls where fantasies about the true Glut for More can be entertained uninterrupted.

And finally, there are the places known as Zebeums. The dark temples of this Prince of Hell, where his dukes and other demons, along with the Cultists, strive to one day receive him into this world once more.

~From the sages' annals