The Blood Cult/Writings

On the nature of the Gods

Letter from Louis-Joseph Chénier

Message sent to the faithful

About the gods. The world as a whole, including (and more importantly) the gods originates from the original paradox. In the beginning, there was nothing, and since this nothing was everything, it became something. It was, simply by not being. Isolotol it is called, the genderless primal deity. Genderless is actually incorrect, as it was both at once. Even today there is a small sect of people made in his image that worship him, but these are a special case. Now, I don't seek to repeat the Myth of Creation available at the temples (The Blood Cult#Creation Myth), as we already have it available, but this is essential to describe the nature of the gods. Because the gods are his divine essence. In his wake, his various parts were transformed into various things and creatures. For nothing is truly lost in this world, it is all transformed. The same applies to the soul, our shard to the divine world. The gods are no exception. They can grow, influence the world, be harmed or "killed", but they never disappear, they are never destroyed. They simply change forms.

Louis-Joseph Chénier (Teocoatl of the Blood Cult)

On the Religious Hierarchy

Letter from Louis-Joseph Chénier

Message sent to the faithful

I think the Blood Cult is at the eve of a great transformation, a rebirth where it resumes to influence global events and ceases to be lost in regional activities. The gods have guided new faithfuls to us, but in general, we of the clergy have failed to integrate them. Many of us have become a little old, it is true, but it doesn't compensate for the fact that we neglected our duty to train youthful priests to assist us and share the responsibilities with. So I felt like writing something... At first I thought the daimons. Everyone is interested by the daimons, so it's logical that I had already done this. See: The Blood Cult/On Daimons. So I thought I'd write a short paragraph on the church hierarchy right now, until faithfuls ask questions which I believe would be better to answer publicly, even if the question can be asked privately. The diagram of the church's hierarchy follows the same shape as the temples we construct: a step pyramid. At the top is the Teocoatl, myself, who oversees affairs of the faith and assures the well-being of the faithful. As such, when followers have a project and they need support, they can come to me, where I compare it to the others who have been brought forward and estimate it's costs and benefits for the faith as a whole. Then, I pull a few strings where I can to help these individuals achieve their goals. Over time I have had many, but usually not at the same time as they involved many. Under myself are the Hueyi Tlamacazqui, or, literally, High Priests. These are religious leaders, the avatars of a particular deity on this world, and this is where the real hierarchies begin. They are the leaders of the various sects, which is the organized worship of a particular patron deity. While this may vary, these leaders may have a Tlatoani under them: a secular ruler. The Tlamacazqui, the priests, can be either under myself or under one of the Hueyi Tlamacazqui. This is comparable to ducal and imperial knights of the mundane realms. As for the Pilli, they serve the ecclesiastic leaders of a particular sect, as choosing a patron is part of the initiation. I find it essential to study ourselves before we are to open onto the world to better study and understand it.

Louis-Joseph Chénier (Teocoatl of the Blood Cult)

Preaches

Letter from Louis-Joseph Chénier

Message sent to a respected noble of Thalmarkin

My religion was born from observations I made in this world, bizarre experiences of mine, and divinee inspirations. Even though I lost all my former following, it has evolved much since the beginning. It started as I found a need to explain our miseries. Starvations and divine intervention on the East Continent, invasion of monsters, undead, and daimons on Beluaterra, major disasters brewing on the South Islands. I tried to discover what the gods wanted and expected from us, why all these disasters were being cast upon us. It is a faith which sees the fluid of life as sacred, and so, because we don't give ourselves some formal official name, have been labelled the Blood Cult, which is rather fitting. We believe blood is the source of life, and that it's movement is that which maintains it. We are a religion of change, of life, despite what one ignorant of our traditions might be lead to believe. Stagnancy leads to decay, and we believe this is a universal model of the gods, which applies everywhere. A realm which grows stagnant has a tendency to fall and die off, an individual who'se blood ceases to flow withers away, a war where no gains are being made often leads to cease-fires... We believe stagnancy to be one of the worse curses to life, and should be fought where possible. So we believe we angered some gods with the stagnancy that we had developped on this earth, and so follow the developpment of these events, and notice that indeed, as the stagnancy has been broken, the starvations on the East Continent have stopped, the monsters and undead have already fled these lands. I believe I have told you enough to understand what I am trying to rebuild, though more documentation is available in my archives and notes of The Blood Cult, where myths and practices are explained.

Louis-Joseph Chénier (Baron of Coness, Sponsor of the Northern Legion)

Letter from Louis-Joseph Chénier

Message sent to An elder of Hemaism

Where do I come from... That is a long story, in a way... Long ago, I founded the first temple in Gaxano, what was at the time in Khthon. There, I had a small following, but I had troubles... To make thing shorts, it was Valentic. The Valentic Order declared my faith to be evil, wary of a potential competitor, and as I erred through the continent, attempting to find myself a new land to spread my faith, they had the temple shut down... Potentially destroyed, I would not know, I haven't returned to the sacred peak in quite a while... Since I left it, in fact, in july probably. Now, I come from the northern tundras. For the time being, I am even still their sponsor, though military matters were never of great interests to me, the bureaucracy was the path I was skilled at, I worked wonders for them to, which must be why they have been so helpful. So for followers... Well, I left only two days, ago, I believe... I only had time to visit my temple and organize the documents, and I was gone. I gained an aspirant today, but that is all I have, I did not waste time preaching in the north for now, as preaching in low-profile regions cast my doom the last time. So I have no followers so far, but I travel to lands of great promise, should they have me. The name, indeed, surely an eye catcher. Some give exotic names for themselves, I did not, I used the name a stranger had first used to describe our activities, I kept it because I find it extremely representative. To make it simple, we preach the flow of blood. In a way, I suppose, we hold similarities to your god of destruction... We believe that life must be sacrificed in order for life to prosper. Though perhaps not the most pleasant analogy... We could almost be seen as leeches: As they suck the blood from a victim, in a somewhat unpleasant way, they actually give him greater health. Everywhere we look, stagnation is a cause for doom and loss, it is by pure analogy we can apply this concept to the liquid of life, blood, and so: The Blood Cult.

Louis-Joseph Chénier (Prophet of Blood)

Letter from Louis-Joseph Chénier

Message sent to a respected noble of Melhed

I would not be surprised that you have heard many rumours about us. Indeed, it is how we work, and we have long cared for their spread as there are no better way to attract the people of far and wide to seek us out to learn the way of the gods. People are fickle, after all, and rumours spread far more easily and persistently than facts. The ability to draw conclusions and pull facts out of rumours and gossip is one we value highly, and one we try to continually train. Logic, deduction and a critical spirit are key to enlightenment, as it is with these that we can learn the will of the gods by putting together the clues they have put before us. The gods are many, there can be no single testament of their will and so we must study their manifestations upon this world as well as the other religious practices of this world, as while these might have been greatly distorted over time they were all originally the same. Typically this meant that as they regionalized they, firstly, started forgetting parts of their lore and, later, invented new lore to complete upon what they had left, sometimes in a rather grossly inaccurate way. We are people of though, culture, and action. As you have seen, we do not reach out to others for them to join us. Only those of little culture feel the need to share it at all costs. Indeed, the people of Weghie taught me an interesting saying: "The less butter you have, the more you must spread it". They use this saying to explain how those of little experience feel compelled to share the little experience they have, those of little knowledge feel compelled to share the little they have, those of little strength... etc, etc. I personally found it rather interesting. But while we do not bother with those who do not interest themselves in us, we are always filled with glee when new nobles come to learn of the faith and of the will of the gods. The Blood Cult is about an elaborate pantheon. We have many myths, and we are continually expanding in this domain with careful research. We are called as such because we believe stagnation to be the greatest of evils, and that everything must continually grow, and that one cannot have life without death, as they are one and the same, both parts necessary for the other to exist. As such, ritual killings are a frequent and essential part of life. You no doubt have many questions still, which I can of course answer for you or for which you might find the answers in our written archives, if you desire. For now I will let you digest what I have said.

Louis-Joseph Chénier (Teocoatl of the Blood Cult)