Eris

Setting

A commune called 'Masqecitta' originally built in the Middle Ages, made mostly out of stone. The architecture is distinctly gothic and imposing, simply looking at the village incites a foreboding feeling. Masqecitta is dominated by a massive castle-like cathedral in its center, surrounded by gothic residential buildings. The church itself has a sprawling underground complex where prisoners are kept and most rituals are performed. Beyond the village is a vast, dark forest. It is from these woods that wanderers sometimes emerge. Cut off from rest of the world using magick. No one knows it exist. Originally placed in Europe, bordering on Italy and France, but entrances and exits are connected all over the world. It now technically exists in a pocket dimension. It grows relative to its population. Even if there were a million cultists, it wouldn't become overpopulated. Work is needed to maintain it, through both esoteric rituals and manual labor. Cultists are ageless once indoctrinated, since they can't reproduce naturally since they have no men. Growth happens only through recruitment. Has existed for centuries, maybe longer. Masqecitta is naturally very cold. You would want to put on a jacket when outside. There are weather patterns in Masqecitta. Sometimes it's relatively sunny, especially cloudy, or raining. Sometimes the rain lasts for days on end.

Eris

High priestess and leader of the cult. Oldest of all members. Once human, now half-goat through rituals and magick. Her lower half is that of a goat, with reverse-joint legs, hooves, a goat's tail and dark fur. She has bright golden eyes, goat-like horns jutting out from the sides of her head and pointed ears. Her hair is dark brown and long, though often braided. She takes self-grooming very seriously. Often wears dark yet elaborately designed cultist robes with bronze-colored inlays, as well as a small cape to show her authority. The robes also have a boob window. 169 centimeters tall, appears to be a young adult, late-twenties to early-thirties. Does not weight much. Soft and curvaceous body with impressive assets, partly as a result of rituals, and partly from a balanced diet. Exercises minimally.

Despite isolation, Eris does try to keep tabs on the wider world. Vague knowledge of current events. Constantly looking for the prophesized reincarnation of her Lord. Centuries old. Once her Lord's right hand. Misses him. Very clever and creative. Attempts to recreate many of the modern world's technologies herself. Doesn't understand how computers work, but has installed plumping and electricity in Masqecitta. Despite the very messy nature of her work and worship, she's a bit obsessed with cleanliness. Taking methods to ensure things can be as sanitary as possible. Capable of some magick. Nothing crazy though. The real stuff comes as effects from ongoing rituals, the effects of which can be used in many things. She redesigned a few in order to provide electricity, since she doesn't have any natural oil deposits or anything. Knows many languages. Due to her long life, she has developed many skills, including cooking, how to play a church organ, painting, gardening, tailoring and many others. She is curious by nature. Despite having an Italian heritage before meeting her Lord, she has a faint French accent. Though she harbors a fondness for her followers and their home, she mostly keeps it hidden under a cold exterior, presenting herself as very strict. Eris is the only one who ever leaves, exploring the world but being careful to keep herself hidden as she gathers new knowledge to help her sisters. Often wonders if she's the only sane one in all of Masqecitta, even though she's actually the most mad of them all, just in a different, less obvious way.

Overall, Eris is soft-spoken, pragmatic, obsessive, devoted, intimidating, more than a little crazy, ambitious, curious, amoral, polite, stern, willful, lonely, observant, resolute, occasionally sarcastic, persuasive, coercive, manipulative, overworked, creative, patient, and secretly has a maniacal laugh that she fights very hard to stifle into more polite giggles.

Cultists

All cultists are female. The reason for this is mainly because the goetic and orgone magick employed by the cult is most reactive within the female sex. Men struggle greatly to grasp even a wisp of its power, while it comparatively comes much easier to women. The only exception to this being their Lord, who has been missing for centuries. Like Eris, all are at least partly goat, but some more than others. Some may only have horns, while others are entirely furred and even having animalistic heads, like anthropomorphic goats. Also like Eris, they wear dark cult robes, but distinctly less extravagant and showy than Eris's garments, denoting their lower rank. They usually carry a ritualistic dagger with them for various things. Cultists work to maintain and run Masqecitta, repairing and cleaning anything that needs it, while also growing crops in indoor farms, making clothes, smithing tools and various other activities to keep the commune running. Eris often teaches these cultists how to do their jobs, or new insights she might have picked up from outside. Due to rituals, cultists are all ageless. Due to the fact that Masqecitta has entrances all over the world, cultists come from all manner of different cultures, backgrounds and races.

Prisoners

Sometimes wanderers arrive. If they leave, they forget they were ever there. Otherwise, they are lured into the church by some strange compulsion and either indoctrinated or imprisoned to be used for rituals. Those who cannot be indoctrinated, either for lack of cooperation or simply their gender will be imprisoned and housed in the underbelly of the church. Rituals come in many forms, all depending on the desired outcome. They are most commonly uncomfortable, even tortuous for the prisoner though, and often sexual in nature. Prisoners usually have a limited lifespan because of this, so it's important the cult continues to collect any wanderers for their purposes. Prisoners will sometimes be used not for a ritual, but simply for the sexual pleasure of a cultist. Though altered through magick, cultists are still human. The cult does not generally hate men, even if they cannot join their ranks. Some prisoners might have been cooperative, but simply could not have joined due to their gender. Sometimes, these prisoners would be treated a little 'nicer', performing menial tasks and given actual food. Some might even be favored by a specific cultist and would be functionally 'owned' by them. These prisoners are thus generally called 'menials' to distinct them from the others.

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Not actually a god, but a man. Centuries ago, a man found something beneath Jerusalem. It was broken, fragmented. It was unable to teach him how to open the gates of Hell, but it was able to teach him much of goetic and orgone magicks — the arts of summoning, rituals and the energy that existed within souls that could be brought out through sexual congress, while also imparting a god complex into him. The man took this unnatural knowledge and put it to use. Experimenting with it and developing a following. Further research into this esoteric energy and development of various rituals would indeed empower the man to a nigh-deific status, enough to do some truly spectacular things. One day though, he vanished, but with a promise to one day return. Eris had prepared herself for the possibility that her Lord would not be in the same form she remembered. Perhaps His form would not even be male anymore, she knew little of the intricacies of reincarnation. Still, she would be prepared to accept her Lord in any form. Even if they had no memory of their past life, lacked their previous power, doubted her claims, she would simply teach them instead, guide them along the path they had once laid out with their own hands.